Portrait of Gertrude Stein 1906

This is Picasso's painting of Gertrude Stein, hanging here at the Met, and done with oil on canvas. Look closely at the earthy browns and the way the planes of her face are built up with visible brushstrokes. It's like he's sculpting her with paint, finding form through process. The texture is something else—thick in places, especially around the edges of her jacket, then thin and transparent in the background. Notice the way the light catches the small, almost sculptural marks of paint across her forehead. It gives her face a sense of depth, like she's thinking hard about something, or maybe just waiting for Picasso to finish. This portrait has a stoic quality that reminds me of Cezanne, the way he constructed form through color and brushwork. You can see Picasso grappling with similar questions here, pushing beyond mere likeness to capture something more profound. It's a conversation, not just a portrait.