Head of a Woman (Fernande) 1909

Picasso made this head of Fernande using ink and watercolor, and what strikes me is how he's really thinking through the painting, letting us in on the mechanics of how it's put together. The color palette is tight, almost monochromatic, focusing on earth tones. The real action, though, is in the marks. Look at the hatched lines that model her face, each stroke feels deliberate yet urgent. Picasso doesn't hide his process; instead, he puts it right there on the surface. It’s like he’s saying, "Here's how I'm seeing, how I'm thinking." I’m reminded of the way Cezanne built up his forms with layers of brushstrokes, each one a step towards understanding the subject, but Picasso takes it a step further. While Cezanne was interested in perception, Picasso is interested in constructing reality. This piece feels like a precursor to his more radical cubist works, where he shattered and reassembled the world. Art’s not about answers, it’s about the questions we ask.