Art in Mass Rose Riesen

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Les Demoiselles dAvignon, Pablo Picasso

Les Demoiselles dAvignon, initially called Le bordel dAvignon, was painted in 1907, is
one of the most popular masterpiece of the Spanish artist Pablo Picasso (1881-1973). The
oil painting is exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMa), in New-York City.
As part of the paintings study, visiting the MoMa and facing the incredible Demoiselles
dAvignon, passing by historical paintings as Van Goghs Nuit toil or Dalis Persistence of
Memory, is an artistic and human experience, which allows the public to analyse this master
piece in a certain context, as a travel into the evolution of Modern Art, its influences and
origins, and what it became with the new artists generations.

Firstly, it is necessary to figure out the historical context of the painting. The late 19th
Century were artistically dominated by Impressionism , describe as the dissolution of mass
into pure light, guided by European artists as Monet, Degas or Renoir. Around 1900, the
artistic world were divided by the new/old conflict, until the Fauvisme movement
(1901-1905). In 1905, Pablo Picasso moved in Paris, where he became a member of the
Intelligentia, a group of young bohemian artistic people, who used to meet in Montmartres
cafes, to discuss about art, to create new things
It is between his pink period and his african influenced period that he created the
essence of Cubism. In 1907, Pablo Picasso ended Les Demoiselles dAvignon, after several
tries (started at the end of 1906, ended on july 1907), during which the painting has evolved
a lot; studies has shown that there were initially seven characters in it, including two men, a
medicine student and a marin.
The painting is the founding element of both the culture and the history of art at this period, it
concretized the creation of the Cubism movement and also created a conceptual break with
the intellectualization of the artistic process. As an artistic revolution: the beginning of
modern art.
Indeed, for the first time in the art history, a painter has radically changed the pictorial space.
Les Demoiselles dAvignon represents five nude prostitutes from a brothel in Barcelona, in
Calle dAvignon, which was a neighborhood knew for its sulfurous nightlife at this time. The
painting name is not a reference to the city of Avignon in the south of France.

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Before analyzing the canvas, it is important to note the influence that women had on
Picassos life. Indeed, the artist has had a turbulent love life and a very special regards
through women. His life is a collection of feminine conquests, that he transformed into
masterpieces, as Jaime Eva, Ma Jolie or Le Minotaure, inspired by the women of his life,
Fernande, Olga, Marie-Thrse, Dora, and many others. Picasso was knew to have a
bestial and fierce sexuality, which is especially illustrated in Le Minotaure, for example.
He confided one day to one of his friend: Pour mon malheur et pour ma joie peut-tre,
je place les choses selon mes amours (To my sorrow and my joy, I may place things
according to my loves). His life was punctuated by creations and passions, the soul and
the heart. Nevertheless, he also frequented brothels, bars and cabarets. Which leads to
Les Demoiselles dAvignon, a brothel scene, experienced by Picasso himself.

Getting back to the canvas analysis, we can easily differentiate the women faces and
Picassos inspirations.
The three women on the right are represented with Iberian style of Picassos native
Spain, we can observe it through the heads constructions, the ears shapes and the eyes
drawing. The two women on the left side are represented with African masks. This
African influence introduced his Black Period , strongly influenced by primitive art,
African masks and sculptures.
Moreover, what surprised the most in this painting was the way Picasso represented
women bodies. The bodies are distorted and unstructured, painted with geometrics
forms. For example, the sitting woman shows both her back and her face, the profile
woman on the left is facing the public with only one visible eye. Picasso plays with
perspective rules. The five women are looking to the public, they sollicite the viewers with
their stare, with a disturbing glance, almost agressive. They seems to face us, like a
confrontation.
We can also observe that the representation of space, furnished with draperies, is
deconstructed too. Perspective is almost nonexistent. The painting has a vertical focus.
Even the still-life in the foreground seems to fall towards the public.
Furthermore, the colors of the painting are also involved in this unstructured space and
woman representations. Three main colors structures the space, with the browns shades
on the left, the gray shades in the middle and the blue shades on the right. We can also
observe the contrast between the orange/beige bodies, and the blue/gray background.

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Also, the forms are bypassed in black or white, which emphasizes the deconstruction
aspect of the canvas and highlights its geometrical forms.
In addition, the painting is very large, almost a square of 243,9cm / 223,7cm , so the
figures are virtually life size, which gives a more real aspect to the painting and creates a
form of communication between the five women and the viewer.

Moreover, if Les Demoiselles dAvignon is considered as one of the important painting in

the art industry, this was not always the case.
Indeed, the painting was regarded as totally immoral when it first appears to the public.
The total lack of modesty, the representation of naked and prostitute women, facing the
viewers was chocking and criticized a lot. Picassos work caused scandals and provokes
the strongest reactions. For example, when artists as Matisse, Derain, Braque or
Apollinaire discovered the canvas, they sees it as an act of terrorism. Matisse qualified it
as the death of painting, Derain ironized one day by saying: One day, we will learn
that Picasso hanged himself behind his huge painting . The prostitutes bodies are
perceived as mutilated, which is the main explication of the scandal. Some critics argue
that it was a reaction to Le bonheur de vivre of Matisse. There were no perspective
anymore, which had been the rule in painting since the Renaissance. This is also because
of all those critics that Andre Salmon, who managed the first exhibition of the canvas,
renamed it Les Demoiselles dAvignon, as it was originally named Le Bordel dAvignon, to
reduce its outrageous aspect.
For the first time in history, since the apparition of photography, an artist painted humans in
an unrealistic way. Picasso answered ironically to the critics: nowadays, we are not going
to the asylum anymore, we create Cubism.
In addition, Picasso was certainly inspired by artists as Paul Cezanne and Gaugin, with for
example paintings as The Large Bathers or the Statue Oviri, who both had already think
about a pictural space who will no longer be a simple imitation of what is real. Their
conceptual vision of art and representation influenced Picasso, and have certainly a major
role in the birth of Cubism.

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 Les Demoiselles dAvignon marks the advent of modern art, the foundation of Cubism.
Cubism disrupts the notion of representation in art. It was the first style of abstract art.
The main concept is to recreate and represent the world as it is, not as it seems. The
idea is to represent a subject from a multitude viewpoints, with several dimensions.
Which is related to the important influence of primitive arts in the Cubism movement.
Inspired by Paul Czanne, but founded by Picasso and Braque, there were two main
Cubism periods: the Analytical Cubism and the Synthetical Cubism.
The Analytical Cubism is the analysis of the subject shapes, to reproduce it with
geometrically. The Synthetical Cubism is the introduction of collages in the actual
Cubism, initiated by Juan Gris.
The influence of Cubism is felted through Europe and became a real artistic revolution.

To conclude, in Les Demoiselles dAvignon, Pablo Picasso shows his desire to leave the
conventional art by implementing innovative new processes, a kind of a visual revolution
and established the foundations of Cubism.
Moreover, the canvas translate Picasso's vision of life. His relationships with women, his
influences, Iberian, African, Paul Czanne..., but also his imagination and creativity
through his work, the subtlety of his work, which he often compared to child drawings, but
which are nevertheless universel master pieces, and which made Picasso one of the
greatest artist of all time.

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SOURCES

http://www.clioetcalliope.com
http://www.pablopicasso.org
http://www.moma.org
http://mediation.centrepompidou.fr
http://www.le-cubisme.com
http://www.artyfactory.com

Examples mentioned in the paper:

Nuit toile - Van Gogh Bibemus Quarry - Paul Czanne

Le bonheur de vivre - Henri Matisse

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Jaime Eva - Pablo Picasso