Portrait of Jacqueline with Glossy Hair 1962

Picasso made this portrait of Jacqueline, with her glossy hair, by layering simple shapes in just a few colours. It’s a method that revels in the pure process of making. The flat colours, reds, blues, and yellows, sit against the ochre ground. The black lines dividing up the space feel both precise and accidental, like a game being played out on the canvas. Take the area where the eye is split in two. Is it two eyes, or one? The line of the nose continues past the eye and down towards the mouth, it’s a face, but somehow not a face. This reminds me of Matisse, another artist who used simple shapes and lines to create his portraits. Like Matisse, Picasso is playing with our perception of reality, inviting us to see the world in a new and exciting way.