The kitchen 1948

This is ‘The Kitchen’, a large painting by Pablo Picasso. Look at how the forms and shapes emerge and shift in muted blues, greys and blacks. I can almost feel Picasso making this; it's like he is shifting the space to make it all fit. I sympathize with Picasso as he must have been thinking so hard while he was making this. There is texture throughout, like he was using thin paint but applying it in a way to build it up. This evokes many emotional and intellectual resonances. The bold lines in the foreground especially are suggestive and communicate so much feeling. I wonder what the image is behind them? Picasso is definitely in conversation with the Cubists here, and even Matisse with the interior scene. Artists are always in this ongoing exchange of ideas across time, inspiring one another’s creativity. Painting embraces ambiguity and uncertainty. It allows for multiple interpretations.