Woman with green stockings 1902

This is Picasso’s “Woman with Green Stockings,” a small painting held at the Musée Picasso in Paris. Although undated, it probably comes from the early 1900s. The woman’s pose is intimate. With her knees pulled to her chest, she appears to be turning away, but is also invitingly open to the viewer. This is a very common pose, which Picasso used to express ideas about female sexuality and the gaze. Picasso’s personal life was complex and he had many relationships with women who acted as both his muses and his companions. Notice how Picasso directs our gaze to her green stockings which contrasts with her bare flesh. The male gaze, as theorized by Laura Mulvey, suggests a way of seeing that positions women as objects of male desire. What can it mean that the woman is not naked, but nude and wearing stockings? Here, Picasso challenges the traditional ways in which women have been represented in art, raising questions about how we see gender and desire. The artwork is a powerful reminder of the complex and emotional relationships between artist, subject, and viewer.