Reclining Nude with wreath 1970

Here, Picasso paints a reclining nude, we don’t know when, using oils on canvas. What strikes me is how the painting feels like a wrestling match between intention and accident. You see it in the fleshy tones, rendered in strokes so bold they almost look like smudges. Look at the area around the figure’s chest – see how the paint is both thin and opaque? It's like Picasso is building up the form, one layer at a time. Each mark feels intuitive, a response to the last. Then there is the dark brown hatching around the neck. It could be an attempt at shading, or maybe he was just trying to find a way to define the figure from the background. This painting reminds me of Francis Picabia's Dadaist works, where the image feels like it's constantly dissolving and reforming before your eyes. With Picasso, as with Picabia, it is the dynamic between control and chance that makes the work so alive, so unresolved, so human.