Reclining Woman

Pablo Picasso

1920

Graphite on paper

Minneapolis Institute of Art

A line drawing depicts a nude woman reclining on her side, resting her head on her arm. Her gaze is directed downwards. A line drawing depicts a nude woman reclining on her side, resting her head on her arm. Her gaze is directed downwards. Reclining Woman was one of a series of drawings of bathers that Pablo Picasso began in 1918. At that time, he departed from the Synthetic Cubism that had defined his work for most of the preceding decade and entered his neoclassical phase. Works in this period reflected his study of classical art and are characterized by a spare, pure line and monumental, idealized figures, though with elongated proportions and massive hands. Picasso’s paintings of giant bathers from 1920–22 were often preceded by small drawings su