The Sun King 1901

Picasso painted The Sun King here at the Hermitage Museum using thick, textured brushstrokes and a radiant palette of greens, yellows, blues, and reds. Imagine him at the easel, working intuitively, probably stepping back often to assess his progress, maybe scraping off and adjusting and then going back in. I find myself wondering what Picasso was thinking as he rendered the little girl’s dress with these distinct marks in white and green. It's like he was trying to capture the essence of childhood innocence. Notice the girl’s tiny shoes, rendered with such care and attention. They ground her, give her a sense of presence and stability in the world. I think Picasso captures a sense of childhood wonder here. Picasso, like all artists, was in conversation with those that came before, so one can imagine him thinking about the works of the Impressionists when he made this work, or the Post-Impressionists. When we look at art, it makes us see and feel things in new ways. It's more than just looking; it's like a dialogue that we are having with the art itself, and with the artist.