Pablo Picasso was born in Malaga, Spain in1881 and he was one of the greatest and most influential artists of the 20th century. He created 22,000 works of art in different forms (ceramics, mosaics, graphic arts etc). Picasso was at the Royal Academy of Art in Barcelona at age 15. In 1907 he painted Les Demoiselles d’Avignon, which is focusing more toward cubism and modern abstraction. Cubism was developed by Picasso and Georges Braques. It was the first style of abstract art which evolved at the beginning of the 20th century in response to a world that was changing with unprecedented speed.
The Les Demoiselles d’Avignon, by Pablo Picasso, depicts five nude females, four of which are standing while the fifth is crouching down. These women are said to be prostitutes from a brothel. Their bodies are made up of jagged lines, not exactly showing off any feminine features, and they are all very angular and disjointed. The leg of the woman to the left doesn’t even resemble a leg, but is more like a part of the wall that is behind her. Two of these women have faces that look more like African tribal masks. The coloring of their faces is different than their skin colors, and the faces are longer. We also see shades of green in the standing woman and shades of blue in the woman crouching down. The eyes of all five women are disproportionate and not symmetrical, and they all have serene, if not somewhat aggravated facial expressions. The background is fairly simple, composed of blue, white and brown geometrical shapes, and there is a table with some grapes and other fruit in front of the women. The whole painting is very two-dimensional and a very unrealistic depiction of women and space.
This work reflects the aesthetic preferences associated with Modernism because of the jagged lines and abstract way in which the women were painted. Modernism was all about experimentation with art, and Picasso did just that in this painting. He seems to have incorporated different types of art, such as Expressionism and even African tribal art, but also cubism, due to the geometric shapes found in the painting.
This work can be found on the fifth floor of the Museum of Modern Art, in the section Painting and Sculpture 1, Gallery 2. It is surrounded by other paintings done by Picasso.This piece is quite large, and was the first thing that I noticed as I walked through the door into the gallery. Its size alone was enough to draw me to it, but the look on the women’s faces, along with the tribal aspects of it are what pulled me to pick this piece.
http://www.picasso.com/life.aspx
This is a very interesting painting that depicts modernism. I think that it represent women in not a negative way but more like in power way.
Tania, As you can see, this was a very popular pick! I think this painting is a great example of Cubism. I know that you characterize it as “two-dimensional,” but I have to disagree. I think Picasso is struggling to figure out how to capture three dimensional figures on the two dimensional plane of the canvas, and Cubism is, among other things, an effort to solve the problem. It’s interesting that you point out the tribal masks. What do you think they’re doing here? After all, these are women in a French brothel. I agree with you that Picasso is moving away from an idea of the conventionally beautiful female nude, but I don’t think these figures are ugly; I agree with Raul’s observation that they seem powerful.
It’s clear to describe the details of the painting. But I have a questions why the artist drew the naked women? It is interesting about the opinion of world changing fast.
I really liked the way of how you analyzed each woman in the painting and pointed out certain features of them that had really stood out in the painting.
I like your description! When I saw this painting I was curious about ‘why drew naked women’, ‘why drew four different posed women’. Is this painting related social issues?