The Great Odalisque (after Ingres) 1907

This work is Picasso’s ‘The Great Odalisque (after Ingres)’, currently at the Musée Picasso in Paris. It's a playful reinterpretation of Ingres' famous odalisque. Picasso attacks the canvas with sharp, energetic strokes in blue and burnt orange, completely reinventing it. The colours are bold, immediate, and raw, laid down with a restless urgency. Look at that cluster of dark blue lines towards the bottom of the image: they swarm over the paper, building a frenetic energy that pulses outwards. Picasso's response to Ingres feels like a conversation across time. You can see echoes of Delacroix in Picasso’s use of colour and his energetic re-imagining of a figurative form. It’s a total demolition of the original. It feels punk. The beauty of art lies in its endless ability to transform and be transformed.