Picasso's Nude with Red Background

This is Picasso's Nude with Red Background, painted in 1906. It shows a woman arranging her hair, rendered with a restrained sensuality that Picasso conveys subtly rather than directly. The model's face is outlined in bold, statuesque lines that recall the African masks Picasso admired. The year 1906 was a pivotal one for him — his style was beginning to shift dramatically around this time, a transformation that would eventually give rise to Cubism.