From his early years in Bombay to his rise in London, Souza saw Picasso as an artistic influence and a kindred spirit. The parallels were striking. Both were expelled from art institutions, briefly associated with the Communist Party, and deeply engaged with the written word.
Arriving in London in 1949, Souza was struck by the sheer volume of art. (Souza in the ’40s, 2018) The post-war city offered little opportunity, but its galleries housed masterpieces he had only seen in books. He immersed himself in the works of Rembrandt, Tintoretto, and Turner, yet it was Picasso who commanded his attention. Seeking books on the Spanish master—whose work he had rarely seen firsthand—Souza later admitted
But now I really believe him to be the greatest living artist
(F.N. Souza quoted in The Artist, His Loves & His Times by Victor Rangel-Ribeiro)
Souza traveled to Paris in 1950, drawn to its electrifying artistic milieu. Picasso’s presence loomed large, with artists like Chagall, Matisse, and Rouault orbiting the same creative universe.
The one man who has upset my ambition of being famous is Picasso! We had seen nothing of Picasso in Bombay. The quantity of work he has done he has done is in capitals AMAZING! The quality is ASTONISHING! There is no style he has not done, he has imitated you, me, Husain, Ara, Gade, and in his sculpture Bakre without we knowing it, or he knowing us!... I envy him. I love him. I admire him. I am jealous of him, which sincere painter wouldn’t be… be proud as well as envious of him?
(F.N. Souza quoted in Souza in the 40’s, Auction Catalogue, 2018)
A defining moment came in 1951 when Souza met Picasso in Paris. The encounter left a lasting impression:
I felt some kind of supernatural, phenomenal power radiate even from his fingertips... Picasso is short, stockily but powerfully built, upright, and agile... There is something deathless in his face, something young and blooming in his countenance. His eyes are sharp, piercing, flashing like two coals, white-hot.
(F.N. Souza quoted in The Artist, His Loves, & His Times by Victor Rangel - Ribeiro)
Picasso, Les Demoiselles d’Avignon, 1907
F.N. Souza, Young Ladies from Belsize Park, 1962
Picasso’s Les Demoiselles d’Avignon (1907) was a groundbreaking work that laid the foundation for Cubism, marked by one of the faces replaced by an African tribal mask. Decades later, Souza absorbed this visual language, reinterpreting it in Young Ladies from Belsize Park (1962). His angular, contorted figures echo Picasso’s composition, with mask-like faces reminiscent of African tribal art.
Like Picasso, Souza was drawn to the raw power of African masks. The multiple eyes, elongated noses, and exaggerated forms seen in traditional masks found their way into his Heads.
F.N. Souza, Head of a Man, 1958
F.N. Souza, Untitled (Head), 1966
Yet, where Picasso’s work remained rooted in Western classical and avant-garde traditions, Souza’s distortions bore the weight of Catholic imagery, classical Indian art, and colonial critique—at once spiritual, political, and deeply personal.
While Picasso provided a foundation, Souza pushed his artistic language further:
I have created a new kind of face... beyond Picasso. As you know, Picasso redrew the human face, and they were magnificent. But I have taken the physiognomy further, in completely new terms.
(F. N. Souza quoted in Y. Dalmia, 'A Passion for the Human Figure', The Making of Modern Indian Art: The Progressives, Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 2001)
Now that Picasso is dead, I am the greatest!
(F.N. Souza, The Angry Old Man, Goa Today, March 1987)
This declaration was not mere bravado but a statement of artistic defiance. Like Picasso, Souza refused to be confined, continually reshaping the boundaries of modern art. His faces became battlegrounds of existential anguish, religious tension, and creative rebellion—unmistakably a face of his own.
