On the beach, Dinard 1928

Pablo Picasso daubed this painting, "On the beach, Dinard," with thick strokes of oil paint. Look at the way he’s applied the bright blues, greens, reds and yellows. You can almost feel him tilting the canvas this way and that, coaxing the shapes into being. I wonder, was he aiming for representation, or was he just having fun with the materiality of paint? He’s really piling it on, isn’t he? There's such freedom here in the painting process, a playful exploration of form and color and gesture. The figures, if that's what they are, seem to tumble across the canvas, caught in a dance of line and hue. I love the confidence of the brushstrokes. I think he was probably in a really good mood that day. And that’s what so great about painting, isn’t it? It’s not about answers, but about possibilities. Picasso knew this, and he reminds us that painting is an ongoing conversation, a constant questioning and exploration.