The figure is a solid form, painted with a terracotta and gray palette suggestive of sculpture. The surrounding space, by contrast, seems planed or thinned out, and the rose rectangle in the five-sided polygon between the knees only faintly evokes a seat.

This composition addresses an overarching theme of Picasso’s art at this time: how to tip the balance from the illusion of a three-dimensional form to a more abstract type of picture-making.