Particularly striking is Picasso’s use of layered colour. The superimposed planes of pigment create, with remarkable technical finesse, an unusual depth and three-dimensionality that give the work a powerful visual presence. Picasso radically transformed the original portrait in his own idiom: the elegant, finely detailed lady becomes a strictly frontal, almost mask-like figure. Her features are geometrically abstracted, the eyes wide open, the mouth closed. The face appears both archaic and modern, reduced to its essential forms.

Especially innovative is Picasso’s handling of the taille perdue or ‘lost cut’ technique. Here, all colours are carved from a single linoleum block, which is progressively reworked after each printing stage. With every colour printed, the plate is cut away further, making earlier stages irretrievably lost. This method allows no corrections or repetitions, yet it results in an extraordinary precision of register and a striking visual density.

‘Deux femmes avec un vase à fleurs’ from 1959 is another outstanding example of Picasso’s mastery of the medium. The series shows three different states of the print, gradually leading to the final signed version. Such a complete series is a rarity and highly prized by collectors.