Les Demoiselles d'Avignon
Pablo Picasso
Description
This painting shows five women in a brothel, but not in the graceful or romantic way. Instead, Picasso breaks down their bodies into sharp, angular forms, with faces that seem mask-like, inspired by African and Iberian sculpture.
Analysis
Les Demoiselles d'Avignon is one of the most important paintings in Modern art because it completely rejected traditional ideas of beauty, perspective, and form. Picasso wasn't trying to show what these women looked like, he was exploring how we see, and how reality could be shown in a new, more abstract way. The influence of non-Western art, like African masks, shows how Modernist artists looked beyond Europe for inspiration.
Details
- Date:1907
- Medium:Oil on canvas
- Dimensions:243.9 cm x 233.7 cm
- Location:Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York City