Head of woman 1943

Picasso painted this ‘Head of a Woman’ with oil on canvas. The canvas is a deep violet hue, and the subject emerges in the centre with cool whites and greys. I can imagine how the flat planes were built up, one by one, to create this strange, asymmetrical portrait. The material aspects of the painting are quite striking. The paint is applied in thin, deliberate layers, with the charcoal lines creating definition to the features. Those lines, like the rigid verticals which form the woman’s hair, speak to the artist’s intention. I sympathize with Picasso’s determination to see the world differently, and to communicate this through painting. This piece is a conversation, a development of the artist’s life-long commitment to seeing the human form in new ways. Picasso's work definitely paved the way for so many artists, myself included! I love the fact that painting is so ambiguous, so open to interpretation. It's never fixed, is it?