Woman reading 1935

'Woman Reading' by Pablo Picasso in the Musée Picasso in Paris, is a large painting on canvas, with paint thickly applied. The colours and forms of the canvas are a little jarring, a little awkward, as if the painting is figuring itself out as it goes along. Look at the way the angular forms of the woman's body are built from flat planes of colour. The thick, almost crude outlines, define the edges of shapes and add to the feeling that the painting is less about perfect representation, and more about exploring the interplay of form and colour. It's like each brushstroke is a little experiment. See how the red and blue of her hands jump out from the painting and almost look collaged on. This experimental and honest engagement with the process of painting, reminds me of the work of Georges Braque, but also connects to contemporary painters today, who, like Picasso, approach painting as an ongoing, open-ended investigation, a dialogue between intention and chance.