Pablo Picasso Figures by the Sea

Annessa Chan:

Imagine taking a walk on a beach and spotting two rocks basking in the sunlight from a distance. The rocks look smoothed by the wind and seawater, nearly merging together and with the sand around them. But taking a closer look, you’ll see a jumble of body parts emerge: limbs, breasts, mouths, tongues, eyes, all twisted together in a provocative way. 

This painting, titled Figures by the Sea, is Picasso making a playground of the human body. Unlike some of Picasso’s other Cubist works, here the figures are entangled creating a sensual and intimate scene. To Picasso, the human figure is a malleable object, like soft clay in a sculptor’s hands. Picasso manages to weave complex emotions into abstract forms and challenges our idea of how the human body should be represented. 

This work was created during the summer of 1931 while Picasso was at his French Riviera vacation resort. With the large open spaces at his residence, he set up a studio where he could create large-scale sculptures. This painting of an imaginary monumental sculpture by the sea shows how Picasso often thought across mediums: putting painting in dialogue with sculptural experimentation.

NARRATOR:

This work, titled Figures by the Sea, was created by Pablo Picasso in 1931. The oil painting measures 130 centimentres in height and 195 centimentres in width, which is roughly the size of a horizontally positioned door.

The painting depicts two abstract human figures lying on top of each other on a beach. Their sand-coloured bodies are made up of smooth geometric forms, accentuated by three-dimensional shadows. Their heads are two hemispherical shapes facing each other with open mouths and spiky tongues as they appear to kiss.

The figure on the right has a long, sinuous body that reclines slightly, revealing rounded hips. One leg is raised, while the other stretches towards the figure on the left. The left figure has a kidney-shaped body and seems to be half-kneeling, with one knee between the other person’s legs. Their arm is extended and placed over the right figure’s head.

Both figures have concave heads, with top structures that resemble noses. Long, pointed shapes extend from their mouths, mimicking the act of two people kissing as their chins gently touch. The right figure's face has two vertically aligned downward arcs that suggest closed eyes, while the left figure's eyes are represented by two small black dots arranged side by side. Between them, two spherical shapes with protruding round dots in the middle suggest a pair of breasts, nestled between their intertwined bodies.

The background features a sandy beach. To the right of the beach, elongated white blocks evoke architecture with pointed and flat roofs. In the distance, we see two horizontal bands of blue: a lighter blue above conjures a clear, cloudless sky, while a vibrant blue below represents a calm sea.