Pablo Picasso’s Fumer III, 1964, an aquatint and soft-ground etching in colors on Richard de Bas wove paper, signed in pencil. Part of Picasso’s late series of portraits themed around smoking, the work reflects his playful, inventive approach to portraiture and printmaking in the final decades of his life.

Fumer III is dominated by bold, almost explosive color fields. The face is constructed with broad, sweeping strokes of red, yellow, green, purple, blue, and pink, creating a mask-like visage that is both human and abstract. The central vertical red band divides the face symmetrically, with the swirling yellow line functioning as both a nose and a dynamic, unifying contour.

The eyes, asymmetrical in color and form, are framed by sharp green brows and encircled by vibrant tones, giving the portrait an intensity that feels both confrontational and humorous. The purple framing of the head and blue strokes at the bottom (suggesting clothing) anchor the otherwise free-floating composition. Unlike naturalistic depictions, Picasso emphasizes gesture and rhythm of line, giving the work a feeling of immediacy and raw expression.

The combination of aquatint and soft-ground etching enables Picasso to achieve a painterly richness, resembling gouache or watercolor. The saturated hues contrast sharply against the cream background of the handmade Richard de Bas wove paper, producing a striking sense of luminosity. The gestural brush-like strokes reflect Picasso’s fascination with bridging the gap between painting and printmaking, transforming etching into an arena of painterly experimentation.

The act of smoking, a recurring motif in Picasso’s portraits of the 1960s, becomes an emblem of creative contemplation and self-assertion. Rather than describing a likeness, Picasso conveys a psychological and symbolic presence, blending humor, vitality, and abstraction. The bold palette underscores the artist’s lifelong pursuit of color as an expressive force beyond representation.

The work can be read as both playful caricature and existential mask: the vivid hues evoke vitality, yet the fractured features suggest the layered complexity of identity.

Fumer III (1964) is a colorful aquatint and soft-ground etching on Richard de Bas wove paper, signed in pencil by Pablo Picasso. The portrait, composed of sweeping strokes of green, yellow, purple, pink, red, and blue, depicts a stylized smoking figure rendered in Picasso’s late abstracted manner. Combining painterly richness with the technical finesse of etching, the work exemplifies Picasso’s bold use of color and line during the 1960s, transforming an everyday gesture into a vibrant expression of identity and presence.