NARRATOR:
Titled Portrait of a Man, this oil painting was created by Pablo Picasso between 1902 and 1903. Its measures ninety-three centimetres in height and seventy-eight centimetres in width.
The work features a man seated in a gloomy, greyish-blue interior. He has a sallow complexion and sunken eyes that stare vacantly into the distance. He has dark, curly, short hair and an exposed forehead. Sideburns run down the sides of his cheeks, joining a full beard that covers his chin and jawline. He has a straight, prominent nose on a long, narrow face. He wears a chunky, greyish-blue blazer, which is buttoned up, with a blue-tinged white shirt collar peeking out above the lapels. The man sits with his arms crossed, which creates wrinkles on his jacket near the underarms.
At the bottom of the canvas is a streak of unevenly applied brown paint about the width of an adult’s palm, suggesting a wooden table. The wall is also greyish blue, with the upper half in a lighter shade than the lower half, divided by the slope of the man’s shoulders. The colour difference makes it look like the man is sitting on a deep blue couch against a wall of lighter tone. He casts a faded shadow on the right side of the wall. Near the top left corner hangs a landscape painting that features trees, hills, and fences in dark outlines and a similarly blue-and-grey palette.
You can see Picasso’s signature in the top right corner of the canvas.
