Pablo Picasso, Les Demoiselles d’Avignon
Pablo Picasso from Spain painted a sizable oil painting titled Les Demoiselles d'Avignon in 1907. The painting, which is a part of the Museum of Modern Art's permanent collection, depicts five naked women working as prostitutes in a brothel on Carrer d'Avinyó in Barcelona, Spain. This is one of the most famous paintings of all time.
Les Demoiselles d'Avignon, considered the founding work of 20th-century art, marked the beginning of the modern era by blatantly departing from the Western tradition of representational painting and incorporating references to the African masks that Picasso had seen in the Palais du Trocadro, Paris's ethnographic museum. El Greco's The Vision of Saint John (1608–14), which is currently on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, is also a part of its compositional DNA.
None of the figures are traditionally feminine, and they are all drawn in an unsettlingly confrontational style. The body contours of the women are jagged and fragmented, giving them a slightly threatening appearance. The person on the left has face traits and attire reminiscent of ancient Egypt or southern Asia. Picasso's native Spain's Iberian culture is depicted in the two figures next to each other, while the two figures to the right have traits similar to those of an African mask. According to Picasso, the evocation of ethnic primitivism in these masks inspired him to "liberate an entirely own artistic style of compelling, even savage intensity."
The early development of cubism and modern art is usually regarded as having been greatly influenced by this proto-cubist piece. Even among the painter's closest collaborators and friends, Les Demoiselles' revolutionary and divisive nature sparked a great deal of resentment and contention. The picture was considered indecent at the time of its initial showing in 1916. The painting, which Picasso created in his studio at the Bateau-Lavoir in Montmartre, Paris, was first displayed in front of the general public in July 1916 at the Salon d'Antin during an exhibition that was curated by the poet André Salmon.
Artist: Pablo Picasso
Created: 1907
