Nude gathering flowers 1958

Pablo Picasso likely made this striking painting, "Nude gathering flowers," sometime in the first half of the 20th century, but it isn't dated. The image presents a puzzle: A body bends to gather flowers, but is divided into two panels. With its flat planes of ochre, white, and green, it's tempting to see this image as a late example of Cubism. But its relative simplicity departs from that earlier style. The bi-panel presentation gives the impression of a collaged poster—perhaps alluding to the rise of mass media. The figure itself is broken down into geometric elements and seems to stand for some kind of generalized essence of "nude." Ultimately, the painting is contingent on the social and institutional context in which it was made. We can research catalogues and publications from the period in which it was made to develop our understanding of it.