![]() This painting was shocking even to Picasso's closest artist friends both for its content and its execution. Oil on canvas - The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York It was only some time later, and without the model in front of him, that he completed the head. After approaching it in various ways, abandoning each attempt, one day he painted it out altogether, declaring "I can't see you any longer when I look," and soon abandoned the picture. Stein claimed that she sat for the artist some ninety times, and although that may be an exaggeration, Picasso certainly wrestled long and hard with painting her head. One can almost sense Picasso's increased interest in depicting a human face as a series of flat planes. In contrast to the flat appearance of the figures and objects in some of the Blue and Rose period works, the forms in this portrait seem almost sculpted, and indeed they were influenced by the artist's discovery of archaic Iberian sculpture. This portrait, in which Stein is wearing her favorite brown velvet coat, was made just a year before Les Demoiselles d'Avignon, and marks an important stage in his evolving style. Gertrude Stein was an author, close friend, and even supporter of Picasso, and was integral to his growth as an artist. As he matured he became only more conscious of assuring his legacy, and his late work is characterized by a frank dialogue with Old Masters such as Ingres, Velazquez, Goya, and Rembrandt.
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