Pablo Picasso's Les Demoiselles D'avignon Essay Samples

Twentieth century art, which is also known as modern art, started long time ago, namely, in the late 19th century. There were four main movements, or artistic styles, which existed in the early twentieth century. They are Fauvism (named “les Fauves” which is translated from French as "the wild beasts"), Expressionism (initiated in poetry and painting), Futurism (which was practiced almost in all arts) and Cubism.
Human body, especially female nude, has been usually one of the most popular objects depicted by almost all artists. Female nude was actively depicted by the artists in the Arts of Classical Antiquity, in Byzantine Art, in the Art of The Middle Ages, in Renaissance Art, in Baroque Art, in 19th-Century Art and, finally, in 20th-Century Art. However, depending on the artist’s passion and preferences, female nudes were usually rendered in a different way. Venus, for example, being one of the most popular figures among a great variety of artists of different times and epochs, was rendered with voluptuous curves, when ancient Cycladic goddesses were traditionally depicted as skinny figures with the crossed arms at their waists. There is no doubt that female nude has always been an integral part of artists’ styles in different epochs. Thus, there are no exceptions for the visual arts, where female nude was usually depicted from untraditional point of view, combining abstraction and primitivism.
It is considered that Cubism came into the world in the beginning of the 20th century with Georges Braque's Houses at L’Estaque and Pablo Picasso’s Les Demoiselles d'Avignon. Before Pablo Picasso created his masterpiece in 1907, he painted more than 100 sketches of his future masterpiece, and originally there should have been painted two men and three women, when finally Picasso depicted five women, but in different styles.
Pablo Picasso’s Les Demoiselles d'Avignon became a radical change in the styles of the preceding era and established absolutely new artistic movement called Cubism. Picasso painted five women, prostitutes, in a brothel in the Avignon Street of Barcelona. Due to the fact that in Cubism figures are usually rendered not from one point of view, but from different angles, Picasso depicted those five women from several angles and that was a thing that distinguished Picasso from his predecessors, who used to portray nature as it was, while Picasso represented tree dimensional objects on two dimensional canvas. As Cubism tended to use abstraction and different geometric forms, non-traditional technique and primitive rendering of the objects, these are the exact features which can be easily found in Pablo Picasso’s Les Demoiselles d'Avignon.
Picasso’s Les Demoiselles d'Avignon was created under the influence of Paul Cezanne and African sculpture. Three out of five figures are depicted in Iberian style, while two others are done in African style, which is proved by the African masks on their faces. This greatest Picasso’s masterpiece was also influenced by El Greco, which can be proved by its stylistic elements. In his painting Pablo Picasso actually focused on three main solids: cone, sphere and cube, and instead of colorful forms of Impressionism he used line drawing.
Moreover, at the button of the painting Picasso depicts still-life of fruit, and in this very painting it seems like painting within another painting. On the background Picasso painted curtains of the brothel, which actually helps a viewer identify two dimensional perspective rendered by Picasso.
The main issue in Pablo Picasso’s female nude that distinguishes it from traditional one is its primitive rendering, depiction from several angles, rejection of round forms and use of abstraction and distortions. Moreover, another feature that distinguishes Pablo Picasso’s style from traditional style is that he painted women’s faces in a primitive style. Picasso’s figures have quite sharp forms, they are big and they significantly differ from real people. This is how Picasso’s style is distinguished from other styles.
It is not a secret that a lot of artists consider Pablo Picasso’s Les Demoiselles d'Avignon ugliness of classic arts, and it was also named as Picasso’s first exorcism painting. However, there are no doubts that the era of Cubism was started by Pablo Picasso’s masterpiece and continued and developed further by his followers.