Buste de Françoise 1946

Picasso made this portrait of Françoise with oil on canvas, and it feels so immediate. Look how the colours are blocked in, how the lines confidently carve out her form. I can almost feel Picasso standing there, his brow furrowed in concentration, quickly applying the paint. It’s like he’s trying to capture not just her likeness, but the essence of who she is. The way he flattens the space, using those bold colours, it's so distinctive. I love the way he reduces her form to these simple, almost cartoonish shapes, all held together with those dark outlines. It’s playful, but there’s also a kind of intensity to it. The whole composition is very geometric. But within those shapes are colours that describe the form. It’s the colours that give it depth and tone. You can see his love of Matisse and Cézanne in the brushstrokes and the colour choices, but he’s completely made it his own. Artists have these conversations with each other across time, pushing each other to see the world in new ways.