Untitled 1937

This untitled oil painting was made by Pablo Picasso, though we’re not sure when, but we do know it is 73 by 60 centimetres. The palette is muted but intense, and there's a real mix of angular shapes and rounded forms. I can just imagine Picasso, brush in hand, stepping back, squinting, adding a dash of colour here, a sharp line there, building this composition layer by layer. I wonder if he felt a bit like a sculptor, chiselling away at the canvas to reveal the essence of the scene. The woman's face, with its profile view and frontal eye, is so striking. What was he thinking, I wonder, as he painted that? And that orange vase, it’s not just a vase, is it? It's like a puzzle, challenging us to piece together what we see.