Woman leaving the bath 1901

Picasso painted this melancholic figure with oil on canvas, and there’s such a sensitivity to the blue tonality and mark-making that gives it a quiet kind of depth. The materiality here is really striking; the paint is applied with such visible brushstrokes. You can see the ridges and valleys of the paint itself, thick in some areas and thinned out in others, especially around the draped towel. This kind of physicality gets me thinking about how Picasso might have been feeling as he was making it, that the art making is always a process. The way he’s handled the paint feels tender, like he’s carefully caressing the surface, building up layers of color and texture to create this intimate portrayal. Look at the way he’s defined the folds of the towel, or the gentle curve of her back. There’s a real sense of empathy in those marks. It reminds me of some of Paula Modersohn-Becker’s early paintings, where there’s also this raw, emotional quality, and the focus on the human form as a vessel for feeling and experience. And just like with her work, this piece resists closure. It’s more of an open question, a space for contemplation.