The serenade 1942

Pablo Picasso made this painting, "The Serenade," with oil on canvas. At first glance, the material might not seem so important – just paint, applied in a fairly standard way. But think about the revolution that Picasso led. In the early twentieth century, the Cubists effectively deconstructed pictorial space. The result was to expose painting's inherent character, its status as a construction. The fractured forms and multiple perspectives force us to acknowledge the artifice of representation. It’s an intellectual game, for sure, but with strong links to making. The artist is like a cabinetmaker, assembling components into a novel whole. This is why Picasso would later incorporate found materials into his work – cardboard, metal, even trash. It’s all part of the same project, breaking down conventional categories and building new ones. Seeing this way, Picasso truly changed our vision for the century that followed.