The 'Divan Japonais' 1901

Picasso made this painting, 'Divan Japonais', with oil on cardboard; you can see him trying to capture a scene, but more than that, the very act of seeing. There’s this feeling, right? The way the face in the foreground tilts, and the gaze kind of misses you. That yellow cloak looks almost like it's been painted in one go, but the brushstrokes are still visible, like he’s inviting you to watch the paint dry. I bet he’s thinking about Degas and Toulouse-Lautrec and all those cabaret scenes. But then, he takes it somewhere else, doesn't he? The people onstage seem to float in a kind of dream. The edge between seeing and feeling blurs. He's not just painting what's there; he’s after something more. It makes you wonder what it means to really see and what it means to paint it.