Nu debout 1970

This is Picasso’s Nu Debout, a standing nude made with pastel in 1970. The pastel is dragged across the surface of the paper in a way that feels fast, and impulsive, like an unfinished sketch. Look at the blues, greens, reds and creams that block in the figure, then the dark brown scribbled to the right, establishing a loose sense of place. You can almost imagine Picasso’s hand moving quickly, deciding where each mark should go. He's clearly thinking about color and form but more than that I think he’s enjoying the immediacy of the medium, and the way it allows him to capture a fleeting moment of inspiration. See how the hands frame the body, while the face remains blank. The color creates a mood that hovers between playful and melancholic. Picasso’s work reminds us of the endless possibilities of painting, and the way that artists borrow from one another over time.