Man with a straw hat and an ice-cream 1938

Picasso made this painting of a man with a straw hat and ice cream in 1938, and it’s all about breaking down and building up. The colours are bold, the shapes are simple, but the overall effect is anything but. Look at the way Picasso uses colour here. It’s not about realism, it’s about feeling. The blue skin, the green and red beard – it’s like he’s saying, "Let’s push this, let’s see what happens when we mess with what we think we know." And the way he applies the paint, you can see the brushstrokes, the texture. He’s not trying to hide anything, he’s letting the process be part of the story. Check out that crazy hat; it's wild, looks like he’s drawn it with a crayon. I am reminded a little of Dubuffet’s interest in ‘art brut’. Both artists embrace the raw, the unfiltered, the unexpected. It’s like they’re saying, "Art doesn’t have to be perfect, it just has to be real." It’s all about the conversation, the back-and-forth, the constant questioning.