On Friday we went to the Picasso museum—he was born in Málaga! It was great to see classics like Lola with a Doll, but I enjoyed the Man Looking at a Sleeping Woman and his Cubist portraits the most.

A new exhibit by Farah Atassi opened the same day. Her paintings echo some of Picasso’s styles.

A black-and-white photograph of Pablo Picasso’s studio at Rue Schoelcher, Paris, showing numerous Cubist artworks in various stages of completion. A large canvas prominently displays a fragmented figure playing a guitar, likely from Picasso’s Synthetic Cubism period, where bold lines and overlapping planes build abstracted forms. The space is filled with paintings, drawings, and sculptural props, highlighting the artist’s intense productivity and experimental process in early 20th-century modernism.A somber early portrait painted by Picasso showing a young girl seated in a studio interior, dressed in white and clutching a doll. Painted during his academic period, the work reflects his technical mastery in realism before transitioning to the Blue Period. The girl’s reflective gaze and the muted palette evoke emotional depth and psychological nuance, foreshadowing themes of solitude that recur in his later work.An unfinished neoclassical painting from Picasso’s return to figuration in the 1920s, depicting a seated man gazing at a reclining nude woman. Executed in graphite and oil, the male figure is partially modeled, while the woman remains a loose sketch. A bold red brushstroke in the background disrupts the classical harmony, exemplifying Picasso’s ongoing dialogue between tradition and avant-garde experimentation.A geometric, Cubist head of a woman painted in monochromatic blues and grays. This late work showcases Picasso’s mature Cubist language, where the face is fractured into sculptural forms that suggest depth and emotion through abstraction. The palette and angular construction lend the figure a statuesque solemnity, illustrating his ability to blend analytical Cubism with psychological expression.A dynamic portrait of a man wearing a hat, painted in 1971 during Picasso’s late period. The face is aggressively distorted with heavy brushwork and exaggerated features, exemplifying his expressive, almost grotesque self-reflection in old age. The vibrant blue and green background contrasts with the earthy flesh tones, underscoring the emotional intensity and raw vitality of Picasso’s final creative years.A Cubist still life incorporating collage and painting, featuring fragmented images of a restaurant table, food items, and signage. Words like “DÉJEUNER” and “DINER” are embedded within the scene, a hallmark of Picasso’s Synthetic Cubism. The piece blurs the boundary between everyday life and abstraction, showcasing his pioneering use of commercial typography and layered forms to challenge traditional still life conventions.A stylized female figure rendered in muted earth tones and angular Cubist forms. The figure’s torso and face are constructed through overlapping geometric planes, a technique emblematic of Picasso’s Analytic Cubism phase. The abstraction emphasizes structural relationships over realism, turning the human figure into a visual architecture of form and color.Wall-mounted exhibition text in Spanish and English introducing “Farah Atassi: Genius Loci,” describing her stylistic references to Picasso and her unique reinterpretation of Cubist traditions through theatrical compositions and vibrant pictorial language.Contemporary painting of a stylized female figure seated on a wooden chair in a patterned black-and-white room. The background is composed of grid-like walls and a scattered arrangement of lemons and plants, blending figuration with decorative abstraction.Playful, stylized painting of a reclining woman in a geometric swimsuit on a pale green chaise lounge. Set in a pastel-striped room, the scene includes scattered oranges and abstract picture frames, combining leisure with flat, decorative design.