Bust of a woman 1935

Here is an image by Pablo Picasso, an artist who lived and worked through most of the 20th century. He paints a ‘Bust of a Woman’ using blocks of cool blues and greens, punctuated by warmer oranges and browns. I imagine Picasso enjoyed the challenge of taking apart a face and putting it back together in a new way. What did he make of his sitter? Maybe he saw a sharp intelligence, represented by the triangular planes of her face, or a cool detachment, captured in the blue background. The black lines next to the face look like eyelashes. The way they shoot out in parallel lines reminds me of Agnes Martin’s grid paintings – but in portrait form! For Picasso and other artists, painting is an ongoing conversation. They play with ideas and reinvent artmaking with each brushstroke. It's about showing us different ways of seeing, thinking, and experiencing the world, embracing ambiguity, and finding new meaning.