Woman Sitting in a Garden [verso] 1901

Picasso made this painting of a woman in a garden using oil on canvas, though we don’t know exactly when. Look how he's worked the surface, building up this really thick, textured impasto. You can feel the hand of the artist; it’s so immediate and process-driven. The painting is like a field of energy, these dabs and strokes of color. See how the figure almost dissolves into the landscape? The paint is opaque, layered, and chunky. You can practically trace the paths of the bristles, the kind of brush he must have used. Take a look at how he renders the foliage. Those little stabs of blues and greens, the way he uses yellow to describe light falling on the form – it feels almost sculptural. The way Picasso builds up the surface reminds me of van Gogh, but with a more playful, less tormented spirit. It’s like he’s using the paint to think, to feel his way through the subject. There’s an openness here, an embrace of the provisional.