Blind man and girl 1904

Picasso made this delicate watercolor, titled ‘Blind man and girl’ and measuring 46 x 31 cm, using muted washes of earthy browns, blues and creams. I love the simplicity, the lack of fuss, in this piece, it's almost as though he’s making something out of nothing! The thin, transparent washes create an ethereal quality. Look at the way the blue seeps into the lines of the man's figure, suggesting a kind of vulnerability, a fragility. The lines are not harsh, they blend softly into the background as though the figures are emerging from a dream. His hands are so tender as they feel her face, her forehead. You can almost sense the texture of skin and bone here, the weight of flesh and bone. I wonder, who is guiding who? There’s a similar tenderness and simplicity of line and color in the work of Matisse. Art is a conversation, after all, an exchange of ideas across time.