Les Demoiselles d’Avignon by Pablo Picasso
At the turn of the 20th century, Western Europe was fashionable with Avant-Grade movements, setting new and distinguished value and standard from the traditional norm. Nicéphore Niépce’s invention of the year 1839 set a new path for the world of art in the decades to come. There was no longer an emphasis on creating a window of the world. Artist gradually began to question the value and purpose of art, as well of their own roles. Practitioners began to seek different source for their work. Exotic sources such as Oriental and African art began increasing popular. Art movements began to form. Artists orbited around some of brightest stars including Claude Monet, Henri Matisse.
Without question, Pablo
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It is Picasso’s statement to the world that he was breaking with the current and traditional norm and expectation. He dared to invent and remake representation. The Demoiselles was his salon painting. Created in 1907, the painting the two and half metre long, claiming for shock and impact.
The painting features Iberian style of Picasso’s native Spain. The influence of African tribal art is also very evident. Five nude female prostitutes are portrayed, each figure is depicted in a disconcerting confrontational way, none are feminine to the conventional expectation. The women are painted menacingly with angular and disjointed body shapes. The work brings up as an explicit conflict between heaven and hell. (Pablo Picasso: 200 Masterworks from 1898 to 1972, p.33).
The Demoiselles was exhibited for the first time in 1916 at Salon d 'Antin, in an exhibition titled L 'Art moderne en France organised by André Salmon. The larger Salons has been halted due to the Great War, making it the only Cubist exhibition in France since 1914. Les Demoiselles was Picasso’s only entry for the Salon. In order to lessen the scandalous impact on the public, Salmon insisted on calling it the name as we know now, although Picasso much more prefer the title Le Bordel d’Avgnon, or simply mon bordel (my