Plate 222, from 347 gravures

Late in his career, Picasso created this atmospheric mezzotint and aquatint, one of only two in that reductive medium for his expansive 347 gravures of erotic, romantic prints. Picasso depicted himself in these prints as an adventurer, a lover, a voyeur, and here, as an artist. The female figures may both be his models, or—considering the brazenly confident stare of the one seated to the right—his seductresses. The haze of burnishing makes their true motivations unclear.