Women and Child by the Sea

This playful drawing is one of many works showing bathers at the seashore that Picasso produced in the years after the First World War. It exemplifies the mixture of both clarity and elasticity in line and figural proportion that first emerges in his work during this period, and the subject of nude women resting and playing with dancelike movements recalls Matisse's immensely influential works of the first decade of the century. With deceptively simple strokes, Picasso here shows women, both young and older, from the front, back, and side, and in seated, standing, prone and active poses.