Young Woman Holding a Cigarette (Jeune femme tenant une cigarette)
Pablo Picasso
1901
"Picasso painted this picture of a sickly looking prostitute during a trip to Paris in the fall of 1901. It is typical of his Blue Period, during when he often depicted subjects from the margins of society. One clue to this woman's social status is the cigarette; in Paris of 1901, proper French women were not seen smoking in public. Picasso emphasizes his subject's weariness with subtle dabs of red beneath her eyes. This was one of the first paintings in Dr. Barnes's collection." daqui