Pablo Picasso
Spanish, 1881­1973
The Red Armchair
1931
Oil and enamel on panel
130.8 x 99 cm
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Daniel Saidenberg, 1957.72
© 1995 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / SPADEM, Paris

Picasso painted a series of portraits of seated women in the late 1920s. This oil and enamel portrait represents Marie-Thérèse Walter seated in a large, striped red chair. What colors are the divided shapes behind her? What shape is formed by her arms?

Now look at her head. What do you see? Picasso liked to show two views of the face at the same time, in a style of painting he and his friend Georges Braque invented, known as Cubism.