Seated old man 1970

This is "Seated Old Man" by Picasso, and it looks like it's been painted with oil on canvas. I can imagine Picasso layering the paint, one colour against the other, to create this large portrait of a seated old man. Look at the way the oranges and yellows in the background contrast with the blues and greens of the figure. It feels like the painting has come into being through trial, error, and intuition. There's something so energetic in the way the paint has been applied. See how the broad brushstrokes of colour are laid down, wet on wet, with those thin drips of white paint running down the surface. I wonder if Picasso was thinking about the tradition of portraiture when he made this painting, but at the same time, completely reinventing it. It's like he’s in conversation with other painters across time, inspiring new ways of seeing and thinking about painting. A lot of the paintings I like the most, like this one, embrace ambiguity and uncertainty, allowing for multiple readings.