Seated Woman is a depiction of Spanish artist Pablo Picasso’s second wife, Jacqueline Roque, a frequent subject for the artist. Her portraits are characterized by an exaggerated neck and a “feline” face. Her dark eyes and eyebrows, high cheekbones, and classical profile would eventually become familiar symbols of Picasso’s late paintings. In this particular work, the artist presents Roque seated and facing outward toward the viewer. As the blue tones recede into the background, the work prominently features red and green tones, two complementary colors that add visual excitement to the composition.
Picasso explored ways to present three-dimensional objects on a flat, two-dimensional surface. Although this painting still includes some recognizable elements from its original subject matter, the artist fragmented those forms into geometric shapes and rearranged them into a seemingly chaotic composition. Amidst this imaginative structure, Picasso uses color to help the viewer focus on the face as the center of attention. Drawn in thick, black outlines, the face is conveyed in the most detail, while the body is composed of simple lines and shapes. The face is split into two sections; one red and the other white. A thick, green line divides the face into two sides. For the figure’s hair and torso, Picasso fills in the space between the lines with either light washes or thick dots of paint. Roque’s blue hair allows for her distinctive facial features to stand out. Furthermore, the artist places emphasis on her eyes and eyebrows with bold lines and exaggerated detail. The composition is anchored by a brown hat, whose shape echoes the curves of the figure’s torso.
Already inspired by Roque’s beauty, it is likely that Picasso’s series of paintings derived from Eugène Delacroix’s The Women of Algiers. The artist once commented that “Delacroix has already met Jacqueline.” In 1963, Picasso painted her portrait 160 times and continued to paint her in increasingly abstract forms until his death in 1973.
Picasso’s work is often categorized into periods. While the names of many of his later phases are debated, the most commonly accepted periods in his work are: the Blue Period (1901-1904), the Rose Period (1905-1907), the “African-influenced” Period (1908-1909), Analytic Cubism (1909-1912), and Synthetic Cubism (1912-1919). In the period following WWI, Picasso also produced works in the styles of Neoclassicism (“return to order”) and Surrealism. His later works, like this example, were a mixture of styles. They continued to push the boundaries of art as daring, colorful, and expressive works.
