In the Reina Sophia Picasso is supreme. Besides Guernica there are a number of lesser known paintings and some laser point drawings that dazzles the eye. I flipped for this portrait "Femme assise accoudée" - It has everything we need to understand the power that abstraction can have today. First there is the history of the portrait. Picasso's lover Marie Theresa smiles like the Mona Lisa. Picasso has cleverly used his classical cubism to make her visage real and full. Her face cleaves into the third dimension given the weight and fullness that a portrait demands. She rests her head on her hand implying volume and dimension.

Then he paints the clothing differently using Matisse's flat decorative colors, loose strokes and arabesques to suggest not only pattern and movement, but also a symbolic figure - to suggest a baby - as if she is holding Picasso's future in her lap. Mother and child - her left arm curls under and around the shape. The burnt umber background overlays other deep colors and feeds off of them - it is full and rich - deep with hue and value - making it shimmer. Picasso has managed to pull off a feat - merging his own cubism with Matisse's wilder color instincts. The rough paint handling in the lower part of the painting is open and free - the portrait is fine and smooth. The distinctions make for a cool tension. But the slight smile is enigmatic - stunning. It is a mezmerizing painting when seen in the flesh and it really sucks up the wall space - and once again - not a very large painting. I kept noticing over and over the painterly economy of the Europeans. They always seemed to make huge radical gestures by being intensely personal and emphatic about their visual ideas on small scales - unlike our times which demand huge empty expressions and grand ridiculous gestures. Big must have meaning - otherwise it's just in the way of the view. Picasso's visual ideas in this painting are radically original and can be helpful in reinterpreting our flabby flaccid take on abstraction. Abstract Materialism has had its day - we need better ideas.