The Demoiselles d’Avignon, an oil painting by Pablo Picasso, is considered a masterpiece work of art, from which Cubism began. At the same time, the faces of the nude female prostitutes that are depicted on the canvas have an undeniable resemblance to masks, which was typical of the African period in the artist’s work (Blier, 2019). Despite the fact that the painting contains some elements of geometrization, it cannot be called fully cubist. Working on it was a traumatic experience for Picasso, and he needed to create cubism to be able to overcome it and create unique art pieces.
In this work, Picasso tried to rethink the nature of sexuality and the relationship between art and life. The space between the figures as if lives its own life, and it is even more voluminous than the details of the figures. The mentioned artist’s painting was the first where the artist abandoned perspective. In addition, the impact of primitive art can be traced since the figures have much in common with the exploration of Native cultures (Kleiner, 2016). Likewise, Henri Matisse and Paul Gauguin, Picasso refers to monumental sculptures and ceramic pieces.
Picasso’s Demoiselles d’Avignon greatly influenced a new generation of Fauvism artists. Matisse and his associates abandoned the traditional approach to nature, constantly emphasizing their independence from it on their canvases. On the one hand, both Picasso and Matisse presented a real image of the world; on the other, their imagination was contrary to each other (Kleiner, 2016). Picasso-inspired artists believed that by simplifying images, they could penetrate the human subconscious. Thus, the influence of Picasso was widely manifested in art, interior design, in the external decor of the 20th century. This period made revolutions in art as outdated traditions lost their positions under the onslaught of the new avant-garde art.
References
Blier, S. P. (2019). Picasso’s Demoiselles: The untold origins of a modern masterpiece. Duke University Press.