Jacqueline sitting with her cat 1964

Here we see Pablo Picasso's painting of 'Jacqueline sitting with her cat', worked in oil paints. Looking at the texture, you can imagine Picasso standing at his easel, loading up his brush with paint. He applies it in bold strokes onto the canvas, building up the image of Jacqueline, her cat, and the chair she sits on. Notice how he's used colour, line, and form to convey depth and volume. It is of course a highly personal language, developed over years of practice. It is important to remember that paint itself has always been a product of industry: pigments painstakingly extracted from the earth, mixed with oils that must be refined. Then consider the canvas, stretched and primed – all labour-intensive processes. By attending to these material facts, and the skilled actions that brought them together, we can more deeply appreciate the labour embedded within the art and question traditional distinctions between fine art and craft.