Pablo Picasso was born in 1881 in Malaga, Spain and died in 1973. He first started studying art in 1897 in Madrid, and later continued his art studies in 1899 in Barcelona. In Barcelona, he met a group of modernist artists including poets and writers at the Els Quatre Gats (The Four Cats) cafe. Picasso is known for his art that falls under Cubism and Surrealism. Picasso’s Blue Period of art was influenced by his dark feelings that arose when one of his close friends passed away. Thus, subject matter was often loneliness and despair and the colors were different shades of blue. In 1904, Picasso moved to Paris and his art works from there on and forward held more positive subject matters such as carnivals and harlequins with much more vivid and lively color schemes.
The painting that I selected is Les Demoiselles d’Avignon (1907). The painting depicts 5 naked women in different open poses. The painting has a mixture of red, blue, pink, and nude colored tones. The women’s bodies are made up of different cubic shapes in a two dimensional surface. Three of the women’s faces appear to be made up of colorful masks. All five of the women’s eyes seem to be staring at the audience member that is viewing the painting, as if the women can not keep their eyes off of the viewers.
One way in which Les Demoiselles d’Avignon reflects the aesthetics preferences associated with Modernism is its abstractness. In the painting, the women are depicted from multiple different shapes, with odd faces and poses. This reflects Modernism, because it rejects realism and embraces innovation. Furthermore, in the painting the women’s skin colors are depicted as a mix of pink and red, further demonstrating the abstractness of the piece, since that is not true to life. Another way in which this painting reflects the aesthetic preferences associated with Modernism is its rejection of traditional and conservative values. I say this, because the women depicted in this painting are meant to represent the prostitutes in of Barcelona’s famed brothels. Modernism rejected conservative values and encouraged unconventional subject matters such as “immoral” ideas like prostitution. What is interesting to me is how Picasso chose to depict the prostitutes as naked, thus making his artwork bolder in terms of its promiscuity towards his contemporary audiences.
I saw this artwork in person for the first time ever in 2017 when I was a junior in high school visiting the Modern Museum of Art. In fact, the picture posted to this blog post is me during that visit in 2017! What drew me to this piece was the vivid color scheme. Additionally, the African inspired masks that three of these women in the painting had drew me to this piece. This interested me, because it reminded me of how in my Puerto Rican culture, the indigenous Tainos would draw similar art. Thus, I found it interesting how similar art from different places of the world of different time periods could be so similar. One question I have is: why did Picasso only choose for three out of the five women to wear masks? Another question I have is why did Picasso use red and pink colors as the women’s skin tones? My last question is why did he choose to omit men from the painting when they play an important role in prostitution brothels?
Sources: https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/pica/hd_pica.htm
This is such a powerful painting and really important not just in terms of Picasso’s career, but in terms of the history of Modernism as well. It’s hard for us to appreciate how shocking these nudes of Picasso were because they differed so dramatically from all previous portraiture. Painting nudes was, of course, not new, but the way Picasso does it and, as you’ve reminded us, the fact that he chooses prostitutes as his subjects are very, very modern. I don’t have an explanation for why Taino art might have some of the same qualities the see in African art, but I see what you mean. We’d have to ask an art historian why that is.