Les Demoiselles d’Avignon

Painting by Pablo Picasso

Pablo Picasso created a number of paintings that have been described as Primitive.

Primitivism refers to artworks that use pre-historical and non-Western art as an inspiration. Artists from the 20th century were particularly interested in African art. Les Demoiselles d’Avignon by Picasso is one of the most famous examples of Primitivism and is known as one of the most popular paintings of the 20th century. It is very controversial in the sense that it does not meet the academic standards.

Les Demoiselles d’Avignon features five prostitutes in a brothel that Picasso visited as a younger man. Their poses were clearly taken from paintings such as Venus Anadyomene by Ingres, which meets the typical expectations from nude paintings. In comparison to Les Demoiselles d’Avignon, the painting by Ingres is very detailed. All features of the painting look natural despite the fact that it is a depiction of a myth whereas Les Demoiselles d’Avignon doesn’t look as natural and is an experimental piece even though it features a real-life scene.

X-rays showed that the heads of the figures are drawn from a pre-historic sculpture titled Head of a Man.

The masks are the reason why this painting is considered Primitive because they were drawn directly from African Masks and pre-historical references. Despite the fact that they were supposed to replace the women’s heads, the masks don’t look like a part of them. They feel as if they were added afterward.

Les Demoiselles d’Avignon was analyzed in The Shock of The New by Robert Hughes. According to Hughes, what Picasso wanted to show through his art was the idea that traditional nude paintings needed a new direction. ‘the tradition of the human figure’ Hughes argues, ‘which had been the very spine of Western art for two and a half millennia, had at last run out; and that in order to renew its vitality, one had to look to untapped cultural resources…’ He is suggesting that the Western depictions needed new inspiration and ‘cultural resources’

Whilst analysing the painting, Hughes described Les Demoiselles as violent due to the fact that all five women wear masks.

He wrote, ‘They seemed violent, and they offered themselves as a receptacle for his own panache.’ According to Hughes, these masks were representations of savagery and the violence of the pre-historic tribes. Later on he comments on this again claiming that there was a specific subtheme in the painting. He suggested that ‘Les Demoiselles announces one of the recurrent subthemes of Picasso’s art: a fear, amounting to holy terror, of women… Even the melon, that sweet and pulpy fruit, looks like a weapon.’ Once again, Hughes points out the idea that the painting has a disturbing theme. He argues that none of the women looked welcoming as you might expect in a brothel and even the objects around them looked dangerous.

Picasso had non-Western work in his studio from which he made direct studies. However, it is unknown whether he was actually interested in the societies they came from or not. On this matter Hughes argues that ‘Both Braque and Picasso owned African carvings but they had no anthropological interest in them at all.’ According to Hughes, Picasso only saw the masks as raw material and he didn’t care about their ritual uses or tribal meanings at all. Through African art, he only aimed to create something that looked visually different from the paintings that had been produced so far.

The original sketch Picasso produced as a preparation for his painting included two clients in addition to the five women.

One of the clients was a medical student and the other was a sailor. The fact that Picasso did not include them in the final painting means that we have become potential clients. Hughes also comments on this fact by suggesting that ‘By leaving out the client, Picasso turns the viewer into voyeur.’

Picasso was one of the first artists who were inspired by pre-historical works in the 20th century. Primitive work appeared to be direct, emotive, instinctive, and personal and fostered a departure from academic paintings by promoting artists’ imagination. The fact that primitive art offered new processes of working and a new direction is generally suggested as the reason why Picasso found it inspirational. He clearly reflects his interest in non-Western art through Les Demoiselles d’Avignon which has many similarities to African art.

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