This enormous painting (nearly eight square feet) by Picasso is heralded as the one of the most important pieces of modern art ever created, if not the most important, a crucial painting in the development of modern art. The painting depicts five women -- prostitutes in a brothel -- but there's much debate about what it all means and all the references and influences in it.
Art critic Jonathan Jones1 says: "What struck Picasso about African masks [evident in the faces of the figures on the right] was the most obvious thing: that they disguise you, turn you into something else - an animal, a demon, a god. Modernism is an art that wears a mask. It does not say what it means; it is not a window but a wall. Picasso picked his subject matter precisely because it was a cliche: he wanted to show that originality in art does not lie in narrative, or morality, but in formal invention. This is why it's misguided to see Les Demoiselles d'Avignon as a painting 'about' brothels, prostitutes or colonialism."
See Also:
Reference:
1. Pablo's Punks by Jonathan Jones, The Guardian, 9 January 2007.
Art critic Jonathan Jones1 says: "What struck Picasso about African masks [evident in the faces of the figures on the right] was the most obvious thing: that they disguise you, turn you into something else - an animal, a demon, a god. Modernism is an art that wears a mask. It does not say what it means; it is not a window but a wall. Picasso picked his subject matter precisely because it was a cliche: he wanted to show that originality in art does not lie in narrative, or morality, but in formal invention. This is why it's misguided to see Les Demoiselles d'Avignon as a painting 'about' brothels, prostitutes or colonialism."
See Also:
- Profile of Pablo Picasso (From About's Art History Guide)
Reference:
1. Pablo's Punks by Jonathan Jones, The Guardian, 9 January 2007.