Figures at the Seaside 1931

Pablo Picasso painted these figures at the seaside, at some point, in oil on canvas. It’s a tumble of bodies, this painting, all in oranges and blues, like a sunset over the Mediterranean. The paint is smooth, and the forms are inflated, each curve carefully considered. There's something so bodily about them, so physical, even though they're abstract. Look at the way the light plays across their skin, how the orange deepens into shadow. I find myself wondering what tool Picasso used to make this – a brush, maybe, or even his fingers? There’s a strange tension between the softness of the forms and the hardness of the lines that define them. You see it in the meeting of the two faces on the right, how they are drawn together so intimately. It’s like he's trying to capture something fleeting, something impossible to hold onto. It reminds me of Léger’s paintings, where human forms are abstracted into near-geometric shapes. Art is a constant conversation and exchange, and no one is ever truly alone.