What Is This Picasso?, from The Blue Guitar

"What Is This Picasso?, from The Blue Guitar" is a 1976–77 color etching and aquatint by David Hockney that belongs to the series of prints in which the British artist engaged with the work of Picasso in a spirit of playful interrogation, the title suggesting both admiration and critical distance, the homage tempered by the recognition that Picasso's achievement is both monumental and problematic. The composition shows Picasso's face or a Picasso-like form rendered in Hockney's characteristic bright colors and bold lines, the etching technique creating a surface of extraordinary graphic clarity that makes the homage feel contemporary and fresh rather than reverential or nostalgic. The two copper plates create a complex, layered image that combines the precision of line etching with the tonal richness of aquatint, the technical sophistication matching the artistic ambition of the series. The white wove paper provides the same clean, bright ground that unifies the "Blue Guitar" prints, the support becoming part of the image through the harmony of tone and color. Art historians have connected this print to the broader tradition of the artist's portrait of the artist, from the drawings of Raphael to the photographs of Man Ray, noting that Hockney's treatment is more interrogative, more focused on the question of Picasso's meaning for the contemporary artist than the celebratory or critical approaches of these predecessors. The work also demonstrates Hockney's mastery of the etching medium: the combination of line and tone, the balance of color and form, and the overall graphic impact all reflect the technical assurance that made Hockney one of the most accomplished printmakers of his generation.

This 1976–77 color etching made Picasso homage playfully interrogative through two-plate graphic clarity, using aquatint tonal richness and white-paper contemporary freshness to ask what Picasso means now rather than merely celebrate or criticize.

It matters because Hockney drew Picasso and made the question feel like an answer—proving that even a master could be a puzzle if the etching was bright enough.