Homme et enfant 1969

Pablo Picasso created this painting, ‘Homme et enfant,’ with oils on what seems to be a primed board. Look at the way he applies the paint, so fast and gestural, like he’s chasing an idea. The colors, bold and primary, are laid down in broad strokes. The surface has a real physicality. Notice the raw, almost frantic energy in those brushstrokes. The yellow on the father figure is applied so thickly in places, while the child’s face is a smooth, cool blue. See how the black outlines create a sense of depth, pushing and pulling the figures in space? The father’s hands, with their simplified fingers, are like abstract shapes that convey so much with so little. Picasso was always in conversation with the art of the past, but here he seems to be talking to himself, pushing his own boundaries, and reminding us that art is always a process, never a finished product.