Pablo Picasso

In Picasso’s early Cubist paintings, subjects were often fragmented and presented from multiple points of view. Here he transforms a female figure into a rhythmic scaffold in which tonal modeling shifts through armatures of angled lines. Clues to her pose and physical identity appear in the ambiguous hieroglyphics that suggest her breasts and the references to her crossed legs, the book in her lap, and the chair on which she is perched. The subtle shift of palette from gray-brown to a soft blue suggests that the model is seated before an open window looking out on the sea.