Les Demoiselles D\'avignon\" by Picasso,

¶ … les demoiselles d'Avignon" by Picasso, explain cubism in it and discuss the idea and techique of "collage in devolopment of modern art.

Cubism was a movement developed between 1907 and 1914. It had its origins in France and its main exponents were Pablo Picasso, Georges Braques, and Juan Gris. Cubism treats the shapes of nature through geometric figures, representing all the parts of an object in one single plane. It is considered to be the first movement to deny the last element remaining from Renaissance academy: the perspective.

It freed the world of art of any compromise with realistic representation. In spite of the revolutionary technique, the genres and subjects were not new in art: still nature, landscape, and portraits. Picasso creates a form of cubism almost monochrome. Colors were not the main interest at that time. The artists concentrated on the drawing of the shapes and the presentation of different planes.

Later Picasso and Braque used pieces of paper, applied directly over the painting, creating the collage, a technique that would develop the vanguard vision by introducing the use of external materials mixed on the flat composition.

Pablo Picasso is considered one of the persons that most revolutionized the history of art. "Les demoiselles of Avignon" (oil on canvas) painted in 1907 was one of the most daring creations of the first decade of the XX century. This painting, that marked the beginning of his Black Period, is the key work to refer to cubism. It reveals a new point-of-view where Picasso eliminates all tradition, denying realism, the canons of depth and the classical ideal of the female body.

The entire composition is reduced to a group of angular planes, with no background or space perspective. The shapes are marked by light and dark lines. Five nude women are seen in the centre. On the lower part there is a still nature, typical of cubist preferred subjects, created by a group of fruits over a clothed table. This combination of many elements, that seemed put together on top of the flat background, reminds the collage fashion of contemporary art.

The two most cubist faces, that resemble masks, are clearly influenced by African art, that was beginning to be known in Europe around that time. They seem unnaturally colored as real masks, and present exaggerated features more caricaturist that portraitist. The two faces on the centre are inspired on medieval frescoes and primitive Iberian sculptures. The woman on the left resembles ancient Egyptian paintings, not only by her profile design, but the body posture: standing up, rigid, arms close to the body, one foot forward.

The long shapes of the figures show the influence of El Greco, and the structure of the composition resembles Cezanne's "Les Grandes Baigneuses" and Ingres's harem scenes. The dark, reddish tones used are typical of Picasso's Black Period. Figures are created mostly by the contrast of colors. The use of drawing line is almost nonexistent, however the contours being very clearly defined. The colors contradict each other alternating bright cold shades of blue with warm ochre and pink. The vibration created by blue and white together brings cold atmosphere to the entire palette.

The structure breaks the laws of perspective. On the left side the composition brings a succession of straight figures, with tense rhythm. On the right the arrangement spreads, with characters in open position that draw attention to their caricature masks.

The figures are set in the world of unrealistic: there are no lights or shadows to display their volume. The bodies and background are flat and seem to melt with each other. There is no diversity of levels or third dimension suggested. The blue tones, contoured by white, accentuate the flatness of the piece.

The use of logic in the drawing is annulated by the way the figures contradict their own position: the portraits show front eyes, but profile noses. Perspective became an element used with complete freedom, without respecting the classical rules of logic. The artists uses different perspectives on the same figure.

The use of colors is also free from reality rules. The ochre of the bodies refers to earth color and has a violent contrast with the light blue of the background. The contours are reduced to basic configurations, "V" shapes in the arms and legs of the women. Sharp edges on knees, elbows and breasts contradict the classical vision of female nudes as curvy figures. Straight lines and sharp edges also configure the background images. Space is no longer the common factor that will harmonize the elements of the painting, but an independent component, real and concrete, that can be deformed and decomposed like all the figures.