Access a slow-looking exercise related to this work.

Transcript
Marilee Talkington: Pablo Picasso created this oil painting on cardboard in Paris in 1901. "The Diners" measures about one and a half feet high by two feet wide.

In the upper-left quadrant of this painting, two figures are seated at a large table covered in a white tablecloth. The table tips forward at an awkward angle and almost fills the entire lower half of the composition. On its surface, Picasso has created the impression of a still-life painting featuring a plate of food, glasses, a wine bottle, a pitcher, and a tall-stemmed bowl with round orange fruit. This appears to be a public dining establishment, though no other figures are in view beyond the central pair.

Seated to the left, a feminine-presenting figure wearing a white dress and voluminous hat leans against a black-suited figure on the right. The body of the white-dressed figure faces us, the viewers, while their head is turned right in profile, facing their suited companion. Their white-sleeved right arm rests on the table and curls around a glass. Their pale complexion blends in with their white dress, which is peppered with dark accents and has an additional dark flourish at each shoulder. Short yellow lines cross throughout the dress, a pattern echoed in the large and wide-brimmed hat they wear. Their reddish-auburn hair is loosely piled on their head and tucked beneath the hat, spilling down on their forehead. The figure leans in toward their disengaged, suited companion with a toothy smile between bright red lips.

The masculine-presenting figure in the black suit leans forward with a bent elbow on the table, resting their chin on their hand, staring pensively. They have pale skin and thinning light brown hair and wear a black dinner coat over a white shirt.

The pair face the viewer and are seated shoulder to shoulder on a large, high-backed red banquette which extends across the width of the painting. Draped over the banquette on the upper-right side of the composition is a patterned coat against a dark section, perhaps indicating another dark overcoat behind it. Above and behind the banquette are yellow and blue tones, perhaps defining a wall or a mirror hanging above the banquette.

In the lower-right corner, Picasso’s signature with a horizontal dash at either end of his name is underlined in dark paint.

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