Les Demoiselles d’Avignon

"Les Demoiselles d'Avignon" is widely regarded as the earliest Cubist piece of art. Pablo Picasso made this artwork in 1907. The painting was completed during the height of his formative Cubism period and is considered one of the most important works in modern art history.

Picasso arrived in Paris at a time when many painters were developing new, inventive kinds of art. This meant that Picasso was not yet pigeonholed into one style and could explore several routes without fear of being judged by critics or other artists.

This flexibility allowed him to express his creativity and experiment with various approaches and methods without feeling compelled to adhere to what others were doing at the time.

The artwork was done using a combination of techniques that Picasso had been experimenting with at the time. It was a pivotal point in his career, allowing him to break through to abstraction and modern art.

This picture is particularly notable since when it was first shown in public, it shocked many people and elicited a lot of negative comments because people at the time were not used to seeing such paintings.

Picasso depicts each character in the painting, with the most rigorously Cubist aspect being the head of the woman tugging the curtain in the upper right. The picture was contentious not only because of its unconventional style but also because of its theme. It was originally shown to the public in 1916, with the title modified to diminish the scandalous impact. The work's title, Avignon, refers to a street in Barcelona known for its brothels. The artwork depicts five naked female prostitutes in an unsettlingly confrontational pose. They have jagged and fragmented body shapes, with African mask-like characteristics on the two figures on the right. Les Demoiselles d'Avignon had a huge and lasting impact on modern art.

English Title: The Young Ladies of Avignon

Year: 1907