Les Demoiselles

d’Avignon (The Young

Ladies of Avignon)
Pablo Picasso
 Elements & Principles
1. (E) Lines- bodies, curves, faces of women,
straight horizontal line gives neutral or negative
emotion
2. (E) Texture- hair of the women, straight calm
hair or the possibly curly more wild hair
3. (P) Balance- not symmetrical, visual weight of
the woman in the middle with two on her left
and two on her right
4. (P) Proportion- faces disproportionate to their
bodies, too small or too large
5. (P) Variety- repetition but different poses of
the women
 Medium Selection: Shine
The shine of the oil (oil is
Oil on Canvas 01 binder & vehicle) makes
paintings start to look 3D

Dry Time
02 Slow, allows artist to make
changes during the painting
process

Consistency
03 Can be thick or thin depending
on the amount of oil. Picasso
used impasto.

Notice the brush strokes on the Iberian mask

 Medium Comparisons
Watercolor Painting Oil Painting

01 Quick dry time 01 Slow dry time

Opaque in color, more

Difficult to paint 02 forgiving, thickness
allows layering and
02 over mistakes
because of texture, vibrant colors
transparency

03 Glossy finish

03 Matte finish

04 Flexible, lasts longer, more

durable
 Style & Era
1. Created in 1907
2. Followed Picasso’s Blue Period, Rose
Period, prior to WWI
3. Emphasized pictorial composition over
personal expression (faces)
4. Radical departure from traditional
composition
5. Inventive abstraction and power inspired in
African sculpture
6. Shattered the regularity of Renaissance
perspective
7. Revolutionary new way of representing
objects, strayed from linear realism of
Renaissance paintings
8. Flat jagged planes
9. Controversial content AND style
 Content & Form

● CONTENT:
○ Women on Avignon street, red light district, depicting a
brothel, women presenting themselves for service
○ Faces are covered, not about who they are or their emotions,
but the figures/makeup of the piece instead
○ Unfeminine, nude, women as masked figures
○ Challenges ideas of beauty and ideas of artwork of the time
○ Tackled taboo topic of female sexuality
● FORM:
○ Flat, jagged, splintered planes
○ Five women with geometric, abstract shapes
○ Contrast between pink/red/orange colors of the women and the
blue curtains
○ Repetition throughout with variety in positions
Art Criticism: Contextual Theory

○ Began in years prior to the first World War

○ Innovative, shattered expectations
○ This piece was a cornerstone of Modernism
in Europe
○ Took inspiration from African masks and
Iberian sculpture
○ Highly revolutionary, experimental in
creation
○ Cubism
 Biography
○ Born: October 25th, 1881 in Spain (passed away April 1973 in France)
○ I loved to draw from an early age. Legend has it my first word was “piz”, short for pencil in
Spanish. My father was an art teacher and a painter.
○ I had little interest in school but was an extremely talented artist.
○ I went to art school, but became bored with the classic teachings there. I wanted to create
something new instead of paint like people years ago.
○ Blue Period: One of my close friends committed suicide and this made me very sad. For a
few years my paintings were dominated by the color blue and these pieces were very sad
and somber in appearance.
○ Rose Period: Eventually I got over this season of depression and fell in love. Around this
time I began to use warmer colors and painted happier scenes like circuses.
○ In 1907 I began experimenting more with my artwork by breaking up the subjects in my
work and piecing them together with different perspectives and angles. This lead to the
style of Cubism.
○ I went through times where I was interested in Neoclassicism and returning to the classical
styles. Soon after I was interested in Surrealism where my pieces did not make sense and
were more nightmare-like than realistic. After this I was interested in
○ I created 50,000 works in my life, this piece took me 9 months to complete this piece
 Cost Analysis
○ Currently at the Museum of Modern Art in
New York, New York
○ Many of my paintings have been sold for
well over $100 million
○ I am controversial and a hot topic artist, not
afraid to address taboo ideas
○ Large piece: 96 inches by 92 inches
○ Priceless artwork. Current worth:
■ $1.2 Billion
○ This one can be yours for:
■ $1.1 Billion
■ (One hundred million dollar discount)