Bathers Drying Themselves 1909

Pablo Picasso made this small painting, Bathers Drying Themselves, with oil on wood. The painting feels so immediate, so alive! Picasso’s brushstrokes are like facets, catching light and shadow, suggesting form through an almost cubist lens. Look at the ochre and brown tones that define the figures and the rough strokes that imply movement. You can almost feel the coarse texture of the towel. What was Picasso thinking, I wonder, as he built up these layers of paint? You can imagine him, almost wrestling with the image, pushing and pulling until it finally yields its secrets. He was a real grappler, that one. This piece reminds me of Cezanne, also a master of the bathing scene. It's like they’re having a conversation across time, each riffing on the other’s ideas. What Picasso borrowed and what he rejected. For me, a painting like this is an invitation to see the world anew, to embrace the messy, the unresolved, and the utterly beautiful.