1969 Buste dhomme 4 Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) Period of creation: 1962-1973

Here we observe a bust-length portrait rendered in a highly fragmented and expressive style. The subject appears to be a man, though his features are distorted and reassembled, defying conventional representation. A dense mane of hair, painted with vigorous brushstrokes in shades of green, yellow, and black, frames the face, contributing to an overall sense of wildness or unrestraint.
The facial structure is broken down into geometric planes; the eyes are rendered as sharp triangles, the nose a series of intersecting lines, and the mouth a jagged opening suggesting either a grimace or a silent scream. The artist employed a limited palette dominated by ochre, red, black, blue, and green, with yellow serving as a background that intensifies the colors in the foreground.
The composition is compressed; there’s little sense of depth or spatial recession. This flatness contributes to the feeling of immediacy and emotional intensity. The figures shoulders are broad and angular, clad in what appears to be an orange jacket, with sleeves partially obscured by the hair. A glimpse of a hand holding something – perhaps a collar or a piece of fabric – is visible near the lower edge of the painting.
The work conveys a sense of psychological turmoil. The fractured forms and jarring color combinations suggest a disrupted identity or a struggle for self-representation. It’s possible to interpret this as an exploration of inner conflict, perhaps reflecting anxieties about societal norms or personal trauma. The deliberate distortion of features moves beyond mere portraiture; it becomes a symbolic representation of the complexities of human experience. The forceful application of paint and the raw emotionality suggest a deeply subjective perspective, prioritizing feeling over objective likeness.

The date 7.8.69 is visible in the upper left corner, providing a temporal anchor to the works creation.