It depicts, as its title suggests, the head and shoulders of a woman who appears to be wearing a headscarf. The picture has been felt by many critics to have a somewhat mysterious air - what is the woman thinking about?
This painting is executed in the Cubist style, which is typical of Braque and also of the period in which he was painting, when Cubism was very popular in Europe.
The medium that Braque used to paint Head of a Women is oil on canvas, lending a vivid and classic feel to the work.
Head of a Woman (Tête de Femme) is one of Braque's earliest works after finishing art school, and at the same time he was painting still life pictures depicting classic themes such as a glass dish of fruit.
In Head of a Woman, we can trace the influence of other painters of the time, including Pablo Picasso.
Braque and Picasso both painted in the Cubist style, and to this day many art critics find it difficult to tell their Cubist works apart, when they are presented with them without knowing who painted what.
Braque's interest in painting the female form does not stop with Head of a Woman. He painted numerous works that depict women: another famous piece is 'Woman with a Mandolin', for example, which he painted a year after Head of a Woman in 1910.
In 1910 he painted another Cubist piece that is simply called 'Portrait of a Woman'. Because of the Cubist style in which Braque painted, the female form in his works becomes mysterious.
Split up into various fragments, it is seen in a new light, and it may be argued that the stone and brown coloured colour scheme that Braque chooses for his work reflect the industrial realities of Europe at the turn of the century.
