f a brown gray color, mixed some more brown gray and the painting began, and he created the rich earth tones that we see in the painting. Without warning one day Picasso painted out the whole head. “I can't see you anymore when I look, he said irritably”, and so the picture was left like that. Picasso actually completed the head after a trip to Spain in fall 1906. His reduction of the figure to simple masses and the face to a mask with heavy lidded eyes reflects his recent encounter with African, Roman, and Iberian sculpture and foreshadows his adoption of Cubism. He painted the head, which differs in style from the body and hands, without the sitter, testimony to the fact that it was his personal vision, rather than empirical reality, that guided him in his work. When someone commented that Stein did not look like her portrait, Picasso replied, "She will." The painting was done on a canvas and he used oil to paint her. The height of the painting is 393/8, the width is 32 inches (100 x 81.3 cm) (Rodenbeck, Joseph, Eakin) there are some speculations that state that Gertrude in her later years resembled the portrait. Stein herself liked the portrait. She stated “I was and I still am satisfied with my portrait”. She wrote in 1938 “for me it is I, and it is the only reproduction of me”. (Rodenbeck) Gertrude purchased her first Picasso painting in 1911 or 1912 and she stopped buying his paintings in 1914. No one has a clue as to why she stopped. That is a mystery that has remained unsolved. (Rodenbeck, Hall) This painting was done in really dark colors. What caught my attention was her almost cartoon like face. Because of the dark background and the dark clothing she is wearing, it makes her face stand out more. Gertrude is sitting in an upright position and she looks very rigid. Gertrude has her black hair tied up from her face. Gertrude eyes stick out the most. They are darkened and they appear...
