Picasso Portraits
National Portrait Gallery, until February 5
The last portrait Picasso made was of himself, about to die. He had previously been the secret agent of art – with enough identities in his briefcase to roam all territories available to him. He would hide behind a moustache and sketch himself as Stalin for the cover of a communist magazine; peer out from behind a silk cravat and wig in an art-school picture, in the style of Goya; and paint himself kohl-dark almond eyes like the ancient Greeks in Self-Portrait with Palette.
