Pablo Picasso's Seated Woman demonstrates how suddenly the artist departed from the creation of a visual likeness and immersed himself in a "new reality" he created. Picasso's massive figure of the female nude sits with eyes closed as the straight lines of her body are emphasized. The main elements of the figure are sharply differentiated. Strong schematic contrasts of light and shade give volume and power to the figure. Everything combines to create the sense of some sleeping, soulless matter, an effect which was to be characteristic of many of the artist's works.