Pablo Picasso's painting "The Maidens of Avignon": description and history of creation

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Pablo Picasso is a genius of his time. He gave the world many masterpieces, which still cause great admiration among mankind today. The painting “The Girls of Avignon” was no exception, it will be discussed in this article.

Further it will be possible to find out how the artist created this magnificent work, where he drew inspiration and what inspired such a very extraordinary decision in painting the picture. A detailed description of this canvas will also be presented.

History of the creation of the work

Pablo Picasso's painting "The Maidens of Avignon" is the artist's first experience in painting in the direction of cubism. The author worked on this work for one year (between 1906 and 1907).

Initially, Pablo Picasso wanted to name his work "Philosophical Brothel", but when the artist's friend Andre Salnoy saw the painting, he suggested another name - "Avignon Maidens". It became the final one for this masterpiece.

Paris bohemia and Picasso's friends took his work ambiguously. For example, Matisse initially emphasized that the "Les maidens of Avignon" is a new key to the developmentpainting. But after some time, he began to violently protest the work and point out that the picture has no place in the fine arts. But Georges Braque liked the picture so much that, inspired by it, he created the famous work called “Nude”. Robert Delaunay and Andre Derain also remained indifferent to this picture. The influence of the Maidens of Avignon can be clearly seen in the work of these artists.

Thirteen years after painting, Picasso sold it to collector Jacques Doucet, and for the first time the work was presented to the general public only at an exhibition in 1937.

What inspired Pablo Picasso to create this painting?

There is speculation that the inspiration for the painting "The Girls of Avignon" came to Picasso after he happened to visit the exhibition of Iberian sculpture, which was held in 1906 in Paris. But art historians suggest that the painting by Paul Cezanne called "Bathers" could also serve as inspiration.

Plot of the picture

The plot for the painting "Avignon Girls" was Picasso's memories of a brothel, which was located in the Avignon quarter in Barcelona. The first sketches were completely different from the final version of the work - on them the artist depicted a scene of seduction in a brothel. However, while painting the picture, Picasso decided to depict only 5 naked silhouettes of girls and a still life.

Description of the painting "Girls of Avignon"

Pablo Picasso presented to everyonehumanity of certain monsters that have masks instead of human faces, and in their figures any gender is barely indicated. In the nature of these virgins, an aggressive message and an exciting expression are simultaneously reflected. The images painted by the artist are very strange and different from each other.

The silhouettes depicted on the left side of the picture are similar to Egyptian and Assyrian motifs. The women in the center are clearly reminiscent of the murals of Romanesque churches in Catalonia and are distinguished by mystical lyricism. But the faces of the girls, written on the right side of the work, are associated with African mysticism and it seems that they are about to perform their frightening magic ritual.

It is worth noting that the female silhouettes in African masks present in the picture are directly related to the exhibition that Picasso visited in Paris in 1907 (it was dedicated to the life and national culture of African peoples).

In his painting, he displayed all the mystery of female figures, which both alert and attract viewers. As many critics and art historians note, this way of conveying information through fine art is the hallmark of Pablo Picasso.

"The Girls of Avignon" - the role of painting in painting

The artist at the time of working on the painting set himself the task of combining the grotesque, expressive deformation of figures on the canvas, as well as drawing a three-dimensional composition in such a way that it was divided into geometric components. On the whole, it can be said thatthe master coped with this task very well, but in addition he also managed to saturate the depicted figures with aggression and power.

Pablo Picasso depicted The Maidens of Avignon in shades of ocher-pink against a bluish background. It can be concluded that in this work the artist combined the experience of his previous periods in his work (the so-called "blue" and "pink"). Undoubtedly, this work has the traditional manner of Picasso's performance, but at the same time, the innovation that the artist brought to the visual arts is also clearly indicated. The interweaving of these two quintessences is allegorical and some kind of cipher in the plot of the picture.

Today the work of Pablo Picasso "The Girls of Avignon" is stored in the New York Museum of Modern Art and pleases the audience with its unusualness.