In 1949, LIFE photographer Gjon Mili visited Picasso in Vallauris, France. Mili showed the artist some of his photographs of ice skaters with tiny lights affixed to their skates jumping in the dark—and Picasso’s mind began to race. The series of photographs that follows—Picasso’s light drawings—were made with a small flashlight in a dark room; the images vanished almost as soon as they were created.

You can see more of these in this LIFE gallery.

Via: Today and Tomorrow