Woman with bird 1970

This is Picasso's ‘Woman with Bird,’ measuring 100 by 81 centimeters. It’s got this muted palette, mostly greys, whites, and blacks, with touches of green, all kinda layered on top of each other. I can imagine Picasso, cigarette in mouth, circling around the canvas, unsure how to resolve the space or the figure…trying to wrangle it into submission. The paint isn't applied smoothly; you can see the brushstrokes, the texture. It makes me think about how much he cares about the materiality of the thing. And that heavy, dark outline! That single mark makes everything pop. It's kind of like when I make a mistake in my paintings. It makes me think, well, how can I make that work? How can I make that thing sing? All painters are like this, in constant conversation across time. It’s all about embracing ambiguity, isn’t it? The painting doesn’t have to mean just one thing.