Les Demoiselles d'avignon
Regarded as a key work in modern art nowadays, the depicted subject matters of this painting are five over life size women, possibly implied as prostitutes, from a brothel in the Avignon street of Barcelona, Spain. These women face the viewer and show their bodies in a provocatively shameless way. (Buchholz and Zimmermann, 1999) Both the curtain and the furniture are fragmented into lozenge-shaped, which add the dynamic to the composition. The style of this painting is no longer chiaroscuro, which is the style of black and white shadow but rather employ bold strokes of colour in favour of the Fauve. It was painted out of oil on canvas in 1907. Figures are concurrently displayed from a variety of angles as stated in the natural characteristic of Cubism. Among the broken elements of the painting, the contrast between the faces of the three women on the left and those two on the right are the most glaring one. Those two faces on the right are painted chaotic exuberance and distorted making them seem barely related to human. They are similar to the African sculpture in Picasso’s experience when he visited Palais du Trocadéro in Paris. The three figures on the left were influenced by an ancient art imitating the Iberian sculpture. The other two are distorted and described by violent hatching-their origins in African art are apparent. Picasso adapted traditional poses from the early period of western art. For instance, the far left figure’s pose represents the pose of ancient Egyptian kings as seen in the leg put forward, right arm extended downward, and the fist clenched. The pictorial convention and the displaying of the profile and eyes in the frontal view techniques are also borrowed from Egyptian art. The two figures in the centre with their arm stretched out behind their heads replicate the traditional pose of Venus. However, the most obvious figures are the seated and the standing nude figures on the right which are based on the African prototypes. The wooden mask from the Congo in figure shared an elongated, geometric quality with the face of the standing figure at the right.
Picasso’s belief is that the African masks actually act as the intercessors, able to protect oneself from the evil spirit. He claimed this painting as his first exorcism painting because the two figures display the troublesome attitudes towards woman for Picasso and embody the fear of getting a sexual disease. Picasso rejected the skillful depiction of nature as an aim and instead paraded its primitive ‘opposite’: all his figures are angular and crude as if hewn out with an axe. Geometric treatment of the figures and the rejection of naturalism exemplified by this painting were crucial to the development of modern art, heralding the birth of cubism. He worked on this painting for three-quarters of a year, and more than 800 sketches and studies have been preserved. (Stokstad Marilyn, 1995) Initially, the painting was thought to be a scene in the brothel since the title Les demoiselles d’Avignon refers to a brothel in the Barcelona street. The signs of narrative element have disappeared in the finalized version. The painting’s harmony is segmented into geometric facets. This work was not exhibited until 1916 due to its shocking element which Picasso’s friends received when they first saw the painting in 1907. Above all this work represents the struggle for a radically new language of painting, and in this it has lost none of its explosive power, even today. (Hodge and Anson, 1998)
Les Demoiselles d’Avignon is considered to be a response work to Le Bonheur de Vivre (Joy of Life) by Henri Matisse. In terms of similarities, both paintings are grouped figures, they both have heavy curtains, and the way the figures pose and render are so similar. Nonetheless, Joy of Life gives the sense of celebration while Les Demoiselles d’Avignon provides more a sense of consequences. Due to the Cubist style of geometric shapes, the figures in Les Demoiselles d’Avignon are flattened and lack of emotion and depth, hardly see a sense of background and no perspective whereas Joy of Life was employed with the style of the Fauvist providing bold colour for optical pleasure and a sense of serenity through a receding background.
Throughout his life, Picasso constantly challenged accepted ways of seeing. His versatility, technical brilliance and inventiveness have earned him the well-deserved accolade of the most influential artist of the twentieth century. (Editors of Phaidon Press, 1999)
Throughout his life, Picasso constantly challenged accepted ways of seeing. His versatility, technical brilliance and inventiveness have earned him the well-deserved accolade of the most influential artist of the twentieth century. (Editors of Phaidon Press, 1999)