Lola, the Artist's Sister

Up until 1900, Dolores (Lola) Ruiz Picasso (Málaga, 1884 – Barcelona, 1958) was one of the artist’s regular models, as were his closest relatives. As Picasso began to distance himself from the academic teachings he received both at home (from his father) and at the School of Fine Arts, his models ceased to be members of his family circle and friends and acquaintances took centre stage. This became evident in his first individual exhibition, in February 1900 at the Quatre Gats bar, where he presented a magnificent series of portraits in charcoal (some painted with watercolours), mostly of his friends, very much in tune with the portraits that painter and illustrator Ramon Casas presented successfully in the autumn of 1899 in Sala Parés. In this work, which must be included in said series of charcoal portraits, Picasso shows great mastery of the drawing technique, with a steady and vigorous stroke based on straight parallel lines combined with others, more wavy and sinuous, thanks to which the female figure comes to life, emerging in blue from the darkness with a penetrating and direct gaze, challenging the observer, as if Picasso had momentarily forgotten that the model was his teenage sister and had wanted to present a stranger captured sitting in a cafe. Degas and Toulouse-Lautrec’s influence is laid bare in the way in which Lola is represented here, following the end-of-the-century stereotypes of the modern and cosmopolitan woman.