Pablo Picasso Pd Us 1904 Woman With A Helmet Of Hair

Description

Pablo Picasso’s Woman with a Helmet of Hair gives the sitter’s dark coiffure an extraordinary weight. The hair rises over the head like a shaped enclosure, framing a pale blue-gray face with lowered eyes. A small collar appears below, but little surrounding detail competes with the striking relation between the head and the dense form above it.

Made in gouache in 1904, the image treats a familiar feature of appearance as an expressive structure in its own right. Broad, closely related tones give the face a quiet presence, while the darker hair creates a firm contrast. Picasso does not need an elaborate setting to make the portrait absorbing: its character rests in the balance between the sitter’s inward expression and the almost sculptural shape that frames it.

Read our guide to giclée prints or browse the Pablo Picasso collection.