Descripción
In 1965 Picasso painted more than thirty paintings of bearded men’s heads. It seems that he was inspired by his gardener, in the long series known as “The Smokers.” However, we believe that, as Boudaille points out, these are not figures linked to anyone, not even to anyone from his past. They are the product of his imagination and are a pretext for carrying out research and artistic experiments.
They are characterized by having been executed with rapid strokes, with that urgency that can be seen in Picasso’s later years, sometimes using cubist forms to achieve expression and resorting to almost peaceful deformations in which brushstrokes predominate over the outlined form. The chromaticism is rather subdued and based on few colors. In the case of the image reproduced in this poster, we see a disheveled character, with an unkempt beard, a full face, a fixed expression accentuated by the irregularity with which the eyes are placed. The head is outlined with thick dots, the contour of the face is diffuse, not very clear, executed in various shades of the same color.
