A blue room (A tub) 1901

This painting, A blue room (A tub), was made by Pablo Picasso with oil on canvas. The color palette is obviously dominated by blues, and it's amazing how he finds so many different shades and intensities. Look at how the brushstrokes are visible, almost rough in places. It's like he's not trying to hide the process of painting, but instead, is showing it off! The way the paint is applied gives it a certain texture that you can almost feel. See how the water being poured over the figure has been captured? That single unbroken white line really speaks of the medium's capacity to evoke the subject without too much detail. It brings to mind Manet, who was also interested in the immediacy of paint and in moving away from academic conventions. What is so great about art is that it doesn't need to be pinned down to one meaning, and this piece is no exception.