His depression improved and he began making cheerful pieces featuring circus performers and harlequins. Picasso also met Fernande Olivier who soon became his lover and appears in many of Picasso's paintings such as Fernande at Black Mantilla. He soon became financially stable and his problems vanished. During this period, Picasso painted some of his most prized paintings including his Portrait of Gertrude Stein (“Pablo Picasso and His Paintings”). During Picasso's blue period, Pablo expressed his sadness and pain, but during the pink period the paintings lead a life of their own. “You recognize the type of person, not the person himself. The subject is characterized, not portrayed. This, although a step in the direction of abstract art, is not the most important feature of Picasso's pink period” (“1904 To