Created in 1962, Jacqueline au chapeau à fleurs. I exemplifies Picasso’s late mastery of the linocut medium and his increasingly liberated approach to form and color. By this point, Jacqueline had become inseparable from Picasso’s artistic identity, serving as both muse and anchor during a period of intense graphic experimentation. The work is celebratory, bold, and unmistakably confident.

The floral hat—exuberant and almost sculptural—recalls the tradition of decorative portraiture while simultaneously subverting it through abstraction. Picasso reduces Jacqueline’s features into interlocking shapes and vivid planes of color, transforming her likeness into a rhythmic composition that oscillates between portrait and symbol. The linocut process, with its sharp contrasts and physical carving, reinforces the directness of Picasso’s engagement with the image.

Historically, flowers have long been associated with femininity, vitality, and renewal in portraiture, from Renaissance allegory to modernist symbolism. Picasso reclaims this tradition but filters it through his own visual language, where Jacqueline becomes both individual and archetype—the eternal muse rendered through a modern, almost primal form. This work reflects Picasso’s belief that the muse is not static but continually reinterpreted, evolving alongside the artist’s vision.

As one of the most vibrant graphic portrayals of Jacqueline, Jacqueline au chapeau à fleurs. I stands as a testament to the depth of their partnership. It captures not only her likeness, but the creative freedom Picasso found in her presence, embodying the enduring power of the muse as a catalyst for innovation, reinvention, and late-career brilliance.