Les Demoiselles d'Avignon
Pablo Picasso. 1907 C.E. Barcelona, Spain.Oil on canvas
Marks a radical break from traditional composition and perspective in painting. These strategies would be significant in Picasso's subsequent development of Cubism, charted in this gallery with a selection of the increasingly fragmented compositions he created in this period.
Video at Khan Academy
Originally titled The Brothel of Avignon
96 x 92 inches
Content:
o five nude female prostitutes from a brothel in Barcelona
o 3 on the left have Iberian style faces from Picasso’s native Spain
o 2 on the right are shown with African mask-like features
Form:
o angular and disjointed body shapes
o The racial primitivism evoked in these masks, according to Picasso,
moved him to "liberate an utterly original artistic style of compelling, even
savage force."
o In this adaptation of Primitivism and abandonment of perspective in favor
of a flat, two-dimensional picture plane, Picasso makes a radical
departure from traditional European painting
o This proto-Cubist work is widely considered to be seminal in the early
development of both Cubism and Modern art
Context:
o Les Demoiselles was revolutionary and controversial, and led to wide
anger and disagreement, even amongst his closest associates and
friends. Matisse considered the work something of a bad joke, yet
indirectly reacted to it in his 1908 Bathers with a Turtle. Braque too initially
disliked the painting, yet perhaps more than anyone else, studied the
work in great detail. And effectively, his subsequent friendship and
collaboration with Picasso led to the Cubist revolution.[5][6] Its resemblance
to Cézanne's Les Grandes Baigneuses, Paul Gauguin's statue Oviri and
El Greco's Opening of the Fifth Seal has been widely discussed by later
critics.
o At the time of its first exhibition in 1916, the painting was deemed
immoral.[8] The work, painted in the studio of Picasso at Le Bateau-Lavoir,
was seen publicly for the first time at the Salon d’Antin in July 1916; an
exhibition organized by the poet André Salmon. It was at this exhibition
that André Salmon, who had already mentioned the painting in 1912
under the title Le Bordel philosophique, gave the work its present title Les
Demoiselles d’Avignon (in preference to the title originally chosen by
Picasso, Le Bordel d’Avignon) to lessen its scandalous impact on the
public.[2][5][9][10] Picasso, who had always referred to it as mon bordel (my
brothel),[8] or Le Bordel d'Avignon,[9] never liked Salmon's title, and as an
edulcoration [11] would have preferred Las chicas de Avignon instead.
o Picasso painted this after establishing himself in Paris with his “Blue
Period” (poverty and desperation themed) and the “Rose Period” (hopeful
and joyful depictions of Bohemian life) paintings including works
considered to be “masterpieces” – inspired by other famous painters
o At a gathering at Gertrude Stein’s home/gallery, Picasso met Matisse (
who became his rival and later close friend) who was considerably more
successful
Les Demoiselles d’Avignon was vying with Matisse for the
preeminent position of being the perceived new leader of Modern
painting. Upon its completion the shock and the impact of the
painting propelled Picasso into the center of controversy and all but
knocked Matisse and Fauvism off the map, virtually ending the
movement by the following year
a response to Matisse's Le bonheur de vivre (1905–1906)
It has been argued by critics that the painting was a reaction to
Henri Matisse's Le bonheur de vivre and Blue Nude.
Influences: The work is believed by critics to be influenced by
African tribal masks and the art of Oceania, although Picasso
denied the connection; many art historians remain skeptical about
his denials. Several experts maintain that, at the very least, Picasso
visited the Musée d'Ethnographie du Trocadéro (known today as
Musée de l'Homme) in the spring of 1907 where he saw and was
unconsciously influenced by African and Tribal art several months
before completing Les Demoiselles.
Picasso acknowledged the importance of Spanish art and
Iberian sculpture as influences on the painting.
In 1907, when Picasso began to work on Les Demoiselles, one of the
old master painters he greatly admired was El Greco (1541–1614). At
the time El Greco was largely obscure and under-appreciated.
Picasso's friend Ignacio Zuloaga (1870–1945) acquired El Greco's
masterpiece, the Opening of the Fifth Seal, in 1897 for 1000 pesetas.
While Picasso was working on Les Demoiselles d'Avignon, he visited
his friend Ignacio Zuloaga in his studio in Paris and studied El
Greco's Opening of the Fifth Seal. The relation between Les
Demoiselles d'Avignon and the Opening of the Fifth Seal was
pinpointed in the early 1980s, when the stylistic similarities and the
relationship between the motifs and visually identifying qualities of
both works were analysed.
El Greco's painting, which Picasso studied repeatedly in Zuloaga's house,
inspired not only the size, format, and composition of Les Demoiselles
d'Avignon, but it inspired its apocalyptic power.
Gaugin (primitivism – “Oceanic” and Cezanne influence this painting (posthumous
exhibits in Paris)
Not cubist – but “is the logical picture to take as the starting point for Cubism,
because it marks the birth of a new pictorial idiom, because in it Picasso
violently overturned established conventions and because all that followed grew
out of it.”
o “In the foreground, however, alien to the style of the rest of the painting,
appear a crouching figure and a bowl of fruit. These forms are drawn
angularly, not roundly modeled in chiaroscuro. The colors are luscious
blue, strident yellow, next to pure black and white. This is the beginning of
Cubism, the first upsurge, a desperate titanic clash with all of the
problems at once.” (Kahweiler, 1920)
Influenced by mathematics (a book by Jouffret): his sketchbook is evidence
Impact (not immediate, but later!!) on Modern art – not exhibited until 1916 -
and not published until 1920s
Henri Matisse was fighting mad upon seeing the Demoiselles at Picasso's
studio. He let it be known that he regarded the painting as an attempt to ridicule
the modern movement; he was outraged to find his sensational Blue Nude, not
to speak of Bonheur de vivre, overtaken by Picasso's "hideous" whores. He
vowed to get even and make Picasso beg for mercy. Just as the Bonheur de
vivre had fueled Picasso's competitiveness, Les Demoiselles now fueled
Matisse's
It has been analyzed a great deal . . .
Feminist interpretations: it (prismatically mirrors her many opposing faces:
whore and deity, decadent and savage, tempting and repelling, awesome and
obscene, looming and crouching, masked and naked, threatening and
powerless.”
In July 2007, Newsweek published a two-page article about Les Demoiselles
d'Avignon describing it as the "most influential work of art of the last 100 years"
