Self-Portrait with Palette (1906) picasso

Self-Portrait with Palette, 1906

Picasso's preparatory drawings for this striking self-portrait of 1906 indicate that the composition went through considerable transformation. At one point, Picasso considered portraying himself in the act of painting, his gaze focused on touching brush to palette. But the final painting shows the artist staring outward, holding only a palette, his right hand clenched in a fist. Even more than the crude shirt he wears, it is the artist's broad, sharply chiseled face that conveys an impression of raw creativity. The stylized facial features, especially the large almond-shaped eyes, derive from Picasso's recent study of ancient sculpture from the Iberian Peninsula-now occupied by Spain and Portugal.