Harlequin Musician 1924

This is Picasso’s ‘Harlequin Musician’ made with oil on canvas. Look at the way those blocky shapes come together. What do you see? Maybe Picasso was playing with breaking things apart and putting them back together in a new way. I wonder if he ever felt like a harlequin himself, juggling different roles and perspectives. That blue face makes me think about his Blue Period when he was exploring melancholy and isolation. It is always a thrill to imagine what it was like for him, stepping up to the canvas, brush in hand, wrestling with shapes and colours, not quite knowing where it’s going, but trusting the process. The way he painted that guitar, with thick black lines, makes me think of music as a structure, a scaffold, not just a feeling. Painters always build on each other's ideas; each brushstroke is like a conversation across time.