Young Woman Holding a Cigarette (Jeune femme tenant une cigarette)

Discussion

FROM THE BARNES FOUNDATION’S CATALOG

In turn-of-the-century Paris, once-fixed signifiers of identity and meaning were increasingly unstable, and this painting captures the ambiguities of modern life. With her cigarette and yellowing skin, the weary subject has been characterized as a diseased prostitute, but Picasso renders her without eroticism and covers her to the chin. While she sits tall and openly faces the viewer, her wrapped arms communicate withdrawal and enclosure. The flat orange plane registers as a skirt, complementary in color to the blue top, yet it could also be read as a café table. From the start of his career, Picasso embraced indeterminacy in both content and form.

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