Visage by Pablo Picasso turns the face into a quick, colourful construction, built directly onto the surface of a ceramic plate. Made in 1963 at the Madoura pottery in Vallauris in an edition of 150, the print shows a point when Picasso was using ceramics with complete freedom, moving easily between line, colour and surface.

The face is held together by a few bold elements. A bright green nose sits at the centre, with sweeping blue curves running down either side, reading as both cheeks and something more fluid. Pink circles mark the eyes, while black lines fix the brows and mouth in place. The features don’t quite align, but that imbalance is what gives the image its energy.

Colour does most of the work. Green, blue, pink and black sit directly on the white ground, kept clean and separate rather than blended. The brushstrokes remain visible, with slight shifts in pressure and thickness that keep the surface active. It feels quick, but not careless—everything is placed with intent.

By the early 1960s, Picasso had been working in Vallauris for well over a decade, developing a way of using ceramics that prioritised aliveness over finish. Faces like this appear repeatedly across his late work, treated less as portraits and more as variations—something to simplify, distort and rework.

Visage resolves through colour and placement. A handful of marks, a clear palette, and the shape of the plate are enough to carry the expression without overcomplicating it.

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