1960 Femme assise de face, en brun, au fauteuil dosier Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) Period of creation: 1943-1961

The composition presents a seated female figure rendered in a fragmented and angular style. She is positioned frontally, her gaze directed towards the viewer with a disconcerting directness. The artist has employed a limited palette dominated by browns, grays, and muted reds, contributing to an overall somber atmosphere.
Here we see a deliberate deconstruction of form; facial features are displaced and reassembled, creating a sense of disorientation. One side of her face is presented in profile while the other appears frontally, disrupting conventional notions of perspective and realism. This fracturing extends to the body as well, with limbs and torso appearing disjointed and flattened against the picture plane.
The figure’s attire consists of a dress or garment rendered in shades of red and black, its form similarly broken down into geometric shapes. She sits within an armchair whose back is visible, adding a sense of confinement or enclosure to her posture. The chair itself is depicted with a similar angularity, reinforcing the overall aesthetic of fragmentation.
The background appears as a wash of gray, providing minimal contextual information and further emphasizing the isolation of the subject. A few dark, gestural marks are scattered across this backdrop, adding an element of spontaneity or perhaps suggesting underlying emotional turbulence.
Subtexts within the work hint at themes of psychological complexity and societal constraint. The figure’s direct gaze, combined with her fragmented form, could be interpreted as a representation of inner turmoil or a challenge to traditional portrayals of femininity. The chair, while providing support, also acts as a barrier, potentially symbolizing limitations imposed upon women in the depicted era. The overall effect is one of alienation and introspection, prompting consideration of the subject’s internal state rather than her external appearance.