LIFE photographer Gjon Mili visited Picasso in 1949. 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.

LIFE photographer Gjon Mili visited Picasso in 1949. 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.