The artwork “Portrait of woman” by Pablo Picasso, dated 1936, is an oil on canvas piece belonging to the Surrealism art movement. It measures 41 by 33 centimeters and falls under the genre of portraiture.
In examining the artwork, what is immediately apparent is Picasso’s signature style, characterized by the abstraction and fragmentation of forms. The portrait depicts a female figure using geometrical and organic shapes interwoven in an intricate manner. The use of color is restrained, with muted blues, greens, and ochres that contribute to an almost dreamlike atmosphere, common to Surrealist works. The planes of the subject’s face are disjointed, a technique that Picasso often employed to play with perspective and representation. The eyes, asymmetrically placed on the canvas, and the simplification of features suggest a departure from realism, inviting deeper interpretation from the viewer. Due to the style and the date provided, this painting would likely be from Picasso’s Surrealist period when he was experimenting with form and symbolic representation, a time when he was also heavily influenced by personal events in his life which often reflected in his art.
