Seated Portrait of Marie-Therese Walter 1937

This is Picasso’s Seated Portrait of Marie-Therese Walter, an oil on canvas. You can see how he's carved up the face into different coloured blocks, with curves and geometric shapes to show her face, body, and hands. I like to imagine Picasso working on this painting. I bet it was a process of layering and shifting, figuring out how to show all sides of Marie-Therese. He's probably thinking, how do I capture this person? What is a portrait anyway? The surface feels built up, the colours layered next to one another in a way that makes everything vibrate. Those hands – they’re so strange and beautiful, with their blue skin and polka dots. This picture makes me think about all the artists who came before and after Picasso, all in conversation with each other, trying to figure out what it means to be human. To me, this painting really does make you feel like you are seeing more than one side of Marie-Therese Walter.