Picasso and Stein Exhibition Sparks Reflection on Portraiture Across Media

A winter exhibition at the Musée du Luxembourg in Paris explored the relationship between Pablo Picasso and Gertrude Stein, prompting questions about portraiture's nature. Picasso painted Stein's portrait between 1905 and 1906, replacing the original head with an archaic mask. Stein later wrote in 1938 that this portrait remained the only reproduction that truly represented her. She attempted abstract portraits in words, as seen in her 1909 text 'Picasso,' using repetitive patterns. Stein believed she and Picasso were both creating abstract portraits in their respective mediums. The exhibition highlighted Stein's concern with contemporaneity, expressed in her 1938 writings where she claimed she and Picasso alone understood twentieth-century reality. Emil Cioran's 1996 anthology 'Anthology of the Portrait' collected eighteenth-century literary portraits, often acidic, revealing portraits as continuous practices. Stein's compositional approach, described in her 1926 work 'Composition as Explanation,' emphasized process and time. A photograph of Jo Davidson's 1920–22 sculpture of Stein was incorporated into Hanne Darboven's 1990 series 'Quartett >88<,' creating another layered portrait. The article, written by novelist Adam Thirlwell, examines how portraiture transcends painting to include literary forms and ongoing processes.