Humanities Assignment - Stonehenge

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Les Demoiselles d'Avignon by Pablo Picasso has been called one of the most important works in the genesis of modern art by The Museum of Modern Art in a 2004 publication1 and the most influential work of art of the last 100 years in a 2007 article in Newsweek.2 Picasso created the work in 1907, the modern era. Determining the proper culture is difficult. He is considered a Spanish painter. There are clear Iberian and African influences presented in the painting. He painted it in Paris. The title references a brothel in Barcelona, Spain. So, for the most consistent classification, Spanish culture seems to be the most fitting.

That said, this work is less about the cultural ties to that place, and more about someone reaching for a new direction in art. The social/psychological reference within the work has been interpreted by William Rubin in his book dedicated to the work as reflecting his deep-seated fear and loathing of the female body, which existed side by side with his craving for and ecstatic idealization of it.3 If this is true, then the way the figures are distorted would certainly support that idea. However, for two reasons this work is more than just a social comment from Picasso or a psychological manifestation of his attitude toward women and more one of development of a personal, and possibly intentional new style of presenting subject matter. The early rivalry between Matisse and Picasso is well documented. It has been suggested that Matisse's Bonheur de vivre (The Joy of Life) became a challenge for Picasso's creation of Les Damoiselles d'Avignon.4 The two seemed to be competing for who would be the leader in the pursuit of Modern Art. If this work were the last one by Picasso, it may not have had the lasting impact on the world of art that it enjoys. But in his subsequent work, and others, the fragmentation and representation of subject matter in planes that defy nature began with this work. It is a new aesthetic approach that forced the viewer at that time to reconsider many aspects of what art is and how space can be redefined.

On one hand the subject matter could be viewed as a personal comment on brothels in general, but because it is clear that Picasso was in search for a new direction in modern art, it is clear that his main purpose was to influence the world of art with this new way of presenting subject matter.

1 Publication excerpt from The Museum of Modern Art, MoMA Highlights, New York: The Museum of Modern Art, revised 2004, originally published 1999, p. 64

2 http://www.newsweek.com/which-most-influential-work-art-last-100-years-102269

3 LES DEMOISELLES D'AVIGNON By William Rubin, Helene Seckel and Judith Cousins. Illustrated. 280 pp. New York: The Museum of Modern Art/ Harry N. Abrams.

4 https://news.masterworksfineart.com/2017/06/12/henri-matisse-and-pablo-picasso