Created in 1963 at the Madoura pottery studio in Vallauris, Picasso’s Visage is a vibrant example of the artist’s fascination with ceramics and his ability to transform humble clay into a canvas of extraordinary invention. The plate bears a bold and whimsical face, its features simplified to elemental shapes and accentuated by vivid, playful color. Unlike his monochrome or earth-toned ceramic works, Visage radiates an expressive chromatic vitality, emphasizing Picasso’s delight in color as both form and emotion.

The face is defined by sweeping arcs of blue and soft pink cheeks, offset by the assertive vertical stroke of green for the nose and the heavy black eyebrows and lips. The circular format of the plate amplifies the image, turning the work into both a utilitarian object and a piece of sculpture—its surface animated with the immediacy of Picasso’s brush and engraving. The balance of color here is striking: black anchors the composition, green and red add warmth, while blue softens and harmonizes the structure. These tones, applied in engobes and enamel under glaze, retain a vibrancy that feels fresh decades later.

Picasso’s ceramic practice was, in many ways, an extension of his lifelong desire to blur the boundaries between art and life. With Visage, he does more than decorate clay; he imbues it with character and presence, creating a piece that is as much portrait as object. The use of expansive color underscores Picasso’s refusal to treat ceramics as a secondary art form—here, color becomes an exuberant language that enlivens the material, merging his painterly instincts with the tactile world of pottery.

Visage is emblematic of Picasso’s Madoura period, where he produced hundreds of unique and editioned ceramics that expanded the scope of modern art. By embracing bold hues and playful figuration, Picasso redefined the possibilities of ceramic design, elevating the medium into the realm of fine art while retaining its sense of immediacy and joy.