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10 Wartime

Although the subjects he treated during the war years remained close to his favourite themes—mainly still lifes, portraits and nudes, and a few landscapes—the war was often a subtext in these works. The portraits that Picasso created in these years reflect the brutality and inhumanity of the period. The formal violence of these works contrasts with the ordinary nature of their subjects. The face in ★Bust of a Woman with Hat★ (no. 53) for instance, is distorted, the reshaped head a strange mass of flesh with misaligned eyes and a twisted mouth.
Picasso also transcribed the toughness of the times in his depictions of interiors. Like ★Owl in an Interior★ (no. 56), the still lifes and interiors from this period are characterised by their tight, almost suffocating framing and dark tones. Although the owl may seem like a comforting presence—especially given Picasso’s love for animals in general and birds in particular—the chair on which it rests somehow morphs into a sharp spear, and confers an ominous undertone on the scene.