Figure (Bather in a Cabin) 1929

Pablo Picasso made this drawing, Figure (Bather in a Cabin) with crayon, and it's interesting because the marks feel very searching. Like he’s feeling his way through the image. There's this contrast between the dark, almost velvety background and the sharp, angular forms of the figure. I think that tension gives the piece so much energy. The figure is kind of abstract, but you can still sense a body in there, maybe a person bathing? There's an arm with three fingers sticking out to the side. It's not about perfect representation; it’s about capturing a feeling, a mood. You can feel the grain of the paper through the crayon, it reminds us of the physical act of drawing. It reminds me of some drawings by de Kooning, same kind of wrestling with form, that refusal to settle on one fixed image. In the end, it’s all about the conversation, the back-and-forth between the artist and the medium, and the image that emerges is a result of that process.