Head of a woman 1923

Pablo Picasso's "Head of a Woman," held at the Artizon Museum in Tokyo, is made with an unknown media. The color palette is restrained but the mark making is wild. Look at those red lines that define her cheek - they're almost violent, slashing across the surface, a way of seeing rather than describing. You can really sense Picasso feeling out the form, adjusting and readjusting his lines. The paint itself is kind of scrubby and dry, with this blue background creating an ambiguous space around her. The overall emotional tone is melancholic, pensive. It reminds me a little of Cezanne, who was also so interested in the underlying structure of things. But whereas Cezanne feels more grounded, Picasso is always pushing, searching. There’s no right way to see, no single answer, just the ongoing process of looking and thinking.