Portrait of Fernande Olivier in headscarves 1906

Here we have a portrait of Fernande Olivier in headscarves, made by Pablo Picasso using watercolour and ink. It's like a quick sketch, and you can see how the process unfolds right before your eyes. The watercolor is so light, it’s almost like a breath on the page. See how Picasso uses the yellow and orange washes to define the planes of her face, and then he goes back in with these decisive lines of ink, especially around the eyes and mouth? There’s a tension between the fluidity of the watercolor and the firmness of the ink that really gets me. Look closely at the way the scarf is rendered; it's almost abstract, but there’s a delicate hint of blue that gives it shape. The way that Picasso works the medium reminds me of Matisse, who was able to imply form with colour and gesture alone. It’s like Picasso is saying, “Here’s Fernande, but also, here’s how I see her, and here’s how art can play with our perception of reality.”