Head of woman 1923

Picasso painted this head of a woman with oil on canvas. I imagine him in his studio, wrestling with the canvas. The warm reds and browns, applied in bold, directional strokes, give the portrait a feeling of intense, brooding energy. I wonder what Picasso was thinking when he made this? Was he trying to capture the essence of his subject, or was he more interested in the act of painting itself? The paint is applied pretty thickly in some areas, like around the eyes and hair, giving the surface a tactile quality. I love the way he suggests the curve of the cheek with just a few strokes of the brush. It’s like he’s carving into the canvas, revealing the form beneath. This piece makes me think about other artists like Matisse and Derain, who were also pushing the boundaries of representation at the time. Artists are always riffing off each other, you know, having this big conversation across time and space. Painting is all about ambiguity, and embracing the unexpected.