Two Girls Reading (1934). Pablo Picasso (Spain, 1881-1975). Oil on canvas. University of Michigan Museum of Art.
Picasso chose to depict this quiet and contemplative subject with strident colors and distorted forms. The figure on the left is likely Marie-Therese Walter.
Francois Gilot relates that one of Picasso’s most persistent sexual fantasies involved two women of opposite but complementary features, one cold and controlling, light skinned and blond, and the other dark, excitable, and sensuous.