Woman sitting in an armchair 1948

Pablo Picasso painted "Woman Sitting in an Armchair" with oils on canvas, sometime during his lifetime. Look at how the blocks of color don't quite fit together, they kind of push against each other like a jigsaw puzzle where some of the pieces are the wrong shape. To me, that's part of what's so exciting about painting; it's always a bit of a struggle, an awkward dance of intention and accident. There's a real physicality to it all. The way Picasso layers those reds, blues, and greens feels almost sculptural. The surface has this lovely, uneven texture, like he was really working the paint, pushing it around with a brush or maybe even a palette knife. See that bold, white curve near the center? It's so simple, but it gives the whole composition a sense of movement. Picasso’s approach here reminds me of Matisse, especially in his use of flattened space and simplified forms. Both artists share a love for color as a means of expression, but where Matisse is harmonious, Picasso is often dissonant, always questioning. It's this push and pull, this tension between representation and abstraction, that keeps us coming back for more.