L’Étreinte 1969

This is Picasso's 'L’Étreinte', painted with oils, and well, sometime. What really grabs me here is how Picasso's not trying to hide anything about the painting process. You can see every brushstroke, every decision. The yellow in this piece just vibrates, doesn’t it? And it's laid on thick, almost sculptural. See how it pools around the edges of the figures, creating this kind of electric outline? It's not just color; it's matter, it's energy. It reminds me a bit of de Kooning, that same willingness to let the paint be itself, to let the messiness become the message. Look at the way he’s rendered the hands, those almost claw-like fingers. It's tender and aggressive all at once, like love itself, right? Ultimately, Picasso’s work, like all great art, reminds us that seeing is never passive, it’s an active, messy, and deeply personal process.