Without a doubt, modern art master, Pablo Picasso stands as one of the greatest, and most-influential painter in the history of art. Even for those who are unfamiliar with art are likely to recognize a work by Picasso. Picasso is the greatest art master because he showed mastery of the elements of composition, spearheaded an art movement, and was highly-prolific during his career.
Picasso was born on October 25, 1881 into a creative family, and showed artistic skills at an early age (The Art Story). In the early 1900s, Picasso began to experiment, and develop his own unique style, which was highly-influenced by notable painters such as Toulouse Lau-Trec and Edvard Munch (The Art Story). Sometime in the early 1900s, Picasso began to experiment with a style that came to be known as cubism (The Art Story). Cubism was noted for its use of paper cut-outs arranged in a collage-like manner, complemented by painting – often depicting objects that appear sharp and angular (The Art Story). One of Picasso’s greatest examples of painting from this stylistic period is Les Mademoiselles d’Avignon, which was painted in 1907.
Les Mademoiselles d’Avignon shows mastery of elements of painting, such as line, form, mass, color, and texture. In the painting, the five portrayed women glare menacingly outward at the viewer (Pablo Picasso). First, the lines are very sharp and angular, especially their facial contours. Such an arrangement of linear chaos accentuates the general unease that the painting brings about. In addition, some of the lines are heavy, and some are extremely light, lending an extremely abstract nature to the work. Some of the lines appear sloppily-rendered, yet others are sharp, and rendered with precision, further adding to the sense of distress in the women. Picasso uses the lines to execute forms in three dimensions, but in Les Mademoiselles D’Avignon, the forms appear to have an extra dimension due to the collage technique that was used. Thus, their forms create a mass that is both flat and extra-dimensional. Such a distortion of space makes the bodies appear disproportionately massive, and intimidating, as well as aggressive. Picasso’s usage of color further demonstrates a mastery of style. In Les Mademoiselles D’Avignon, Picasso uses both earth tones that convey a primitive nature, as well as light blues to convey the sky and a sense of freedom. Whereas most of the women are complemented by the blue sky in the background, one of the women juts out leeringly, and wears a type of tribal mask. Her mask, and her immediate juxtaposition with the earth tone makes her appear out of place, and fearsome. Indeed, this work makes use of all the major compositional elements, adding to its value As one of Picasso’s masterpieces, as well as showing off his skills as a master of art.
Finally, Picasso lived to be more than 90 years old. During that time, he became a celebrity figure. Due to his longevity and work ethic, he was able to pump out thousands of pieces of art, including sculpture, and even ceramics (Art Story). His longevity only serves to add to his legendary stature as a master of art. Thus, he had a long career that helped him master his unique styles, especially cubism.
Work Cited
Pablo Picasso. The Art Story. 2016. Web. 25 Apr, 2016.
Pablo Picasso. Les Mademoiselles D’Avignon, 1907 by Pablo Picasso. 2016. Web. 25 Apr, 2016.
