The Luncheon on the Grass 1962

This is Picasso's "The Luncheon on the Grass." The painting, with its simplified forms and bold color palette of red, yellow and black, feels like it came into being through intuition. I can just imagine him, standing in front of the canvas, wrestling with the act of painting, shifting and changing the composition until it just felt right. I sympathise with the artist, trying to find that perfect balance. It is a conversation with color and form. The thick application of paint builds up layers of texture. It creates a visual landscape of sorts, a terrain of feeling. The angular gestures of the figures communicate so much, their postures and expressions, the overall mood of the composition. I wonder how much Manet's painting of the same title was in Picasso's mind. Artists are constantly in dialogue with one another, building upon the ideas of the past and pushing them into new directions. It reminds us that painting embraces ambiguity and uncertainty. There are multiple ways of seeing and experiencing the world.