The artwork titled “Seated Nude drying her feet” is a creation of the renowned Spanish artist Pablo Picasso, dated 1921. Picasso employed the medium of pastel on paper to craft this piece, which measures 66 cm by 50.8 cm. The artwork resides within the Neoclassicism movement and portrays the genre of nude painting (nu), featuring the figure of a nude female in a seated position occupied with the act of drying her feet.
This artwork showcases a woman with voluptuous form, embodying the classical aesthetic of Neoclassicism that marked a period of Picasso’s oeuvre. The figure is rendered with a sense of solidity and volume, denoting a departure from Picasso’s earlier Cubist experiments. The body of the woman is depicted with smooth curves, her flesh tones contrasting against the soft drapery upon which she is seated and the cool, serene backdrop. The scene exudes a quiet introspection as the subject is focused on the simple, intimate task of drying her feet, a moment captured in time that merges the echoes of classical art with Picasso’s unique stylistic interpretation. The use of pastels contributes to the gentle, diffuse quality of the colors, enhancing the overall tender and private nature of the scene.