The Great Odalisque (after Ingres) 1907

This is Pablo Picasso’s painted response to Ingres’s ‘Grande Odalisque,’ and it’s a beauty, all done with brown, red and blue tones. I bet Picasso was having a blast here, picturing Ingres picturing a nude. He takes Ingres’ smooth forms and turns them into something angular, almost violent. Look at the quick strokes and the sheer confidence of the marks—it’s like Picasso is having a conversation with Ingres across time, throwing shapes back and forth. The blues are so vibrant, and the way he uses them to define the shadows is really smart. There's a real energy in the paintwork, a sense of movement and life. When he lays down those marks, he must have been thinking about the art history of the nude. The funny thing is, he probably knew that he was also making something new. You know, that’s the thing about painting: it’s always a dialogue, and even though we painters work alone in the studio, we’re always talking to each other!