Figure with fruit dish 1924

This is Pablo Picasso's 'Figure with fruit dish,' made with oil on canvas. Look at the colors – earthy browns and reds, a somber, grounding palette. I wonder what it was like for Picasso to make this. Did he start with the figure, or did the fruit dish come first? The shapes are so solid, so architectural, like he's building a world rather than just painting it. I can imagine Picasso wrestling with this painting, scraping the paint, turning the canvas, trying to find the right balance between representation and abstraction. That red on the left really pops, doesn't it? It's like a little burst of energy in an otherwise muted scene. But there is also something brutal about the shadows and hard edges. The way the figure is cut up into planes reminds me of Cezanne, but with a more aggressive, almost violent edge. He is asking us to see the world in a new way, to break it down and rebuild it. This feels like an invitation, a challenge, to engage with the world with open eyes and an open mind.