Pablo Picasso: A Return to Order and An Exploration of Neoclassicism. The early 1920s sought a return to order for many of the great thinkers and creators of the time, including Picasso. During this period he experimented with more classical forms, drawing upon references from classical sculptures and paintings from the Renaissance. At the close of World War I, champions of the du jour avant-garde styles similarly embarked in a retour lordre, seeking a sense of meaning amidst a sea of unknown and fear. Out of Picassos Neoclassical phase (roughly the early to mid-1920s) came a body of work that was a welcomed divergence from his prolific and genius output. Similar to late 18th century Neoclassicism, Picasso possessed a desire to reject chaos and confusion in favor of adopting more familiar and digestible subjects. One can see the influence of Ingres in some of the works of this periodclassic Odalisque forms in repose, or a nude resting in an armchair. Picasso also utilized mythological images like centaurs, minotaurs, nymphs and fauns inspired by Italian and Greek classical sculpture and paintings, which he viewed in close proximity as he spent holidays in a villa in Fontainebleau. He was additionally inspired after the birth of his first son, Paolo, with his first wife, Olga in 1921, and often depicted motifs of women and children. There is a noticeable tenderness to his approach to the female form, while simultaneously maintaining the ability to depict these women as solid, Amazonian-like goddesses. Rather than portraying the lithe, graceful forms so often associated with classical and neoclassical imagery, Picasso created leaden figures with heavy hands and feethardworking, capable women with powerful sculptural presence.