Though traditional painting captures a fixed moment from a single perspective, Picasso endeavored to depict this bather from the front, rear, and side simultaneously. In doing so, he used the nude figure standing at the seaside as a testing ground for new representational possibilities, challenging pictorial conventions of space, beauty, and time. The bather’s body is an amalgam of discrete shapes: her breasts, stomach, and shoulders are formed by curves and jags. The painting’s background is further simplified into three bands of color applied in flat, rough strokes representing sand, sea, and sky.
Gallery label from 2019
In Bather, Picasso used a nude female figure standing at the seaside as a testing ground for new representational possibilities, challenging pictorial conventions of space, beauty, and time. The background is simplified into three bands of color applied in flat, rough strokes. The bather’s body is broken into discrete parts; her breasts, stomach, and shoulders are hardened into geometric arcs and curves, and her right foot twists unnaturally. Traditional painting captures a single moment from a single perspective; Picasso depicted his bather’s torso from the front, rear, and side, presenting multiple views simultaneously.
Gallery label from 2011.
