LES DEMOISELLES (final)

Question 1

year

Answer 1

1907

Question 2

subject

Answer 2

recalls scene from brothel on avignon street ‘calle de avinyo’ in Barcelona- where picasso lived

• 5 naked women, sharp angular bodies, triangular breasts.

subject of prostitution had earned a prominent place in the avant garden of 19th C

rejected academy style nude

Question 3

what was the influence of cezanne

Answer 3

-develops the pictorial approaches of cezanné

-distortions in form

-radical simplification of the human figure

-combination of viewpoints

Question 4

influence of Gaugin

Answer 4

gaugin primitivism had a large influence

his sculptural works showed influence of non western sculpture

gaugin influenced development of interest in the primitive in paris avant garden

his retrospective of works at the salon d’automne in 1906 influenced him

Question 5

picasso and mattisse rivalry

Answer 5

-picasso recated with jealousy when mattisse was heralded the most avant garde painter in Paris after ‘joy of life’, which picasso saw at the steins house

-picasso also saw blue nude at the steins house only months before les demoiselles

-mattisse influenced by cezanne so picasso also was

Question 6

faces of figures

Answer 6

faces are simplified and mask like, removes identity from figures, recalling primitive art

Question 7

figure on the left influence

Answer 7

figure on the left is reminiscent of ancient egyptian figures in profile, with full eye frontal

Question 8

two central figures influence

Answer 8

-influenced by iberian sculpture
-characterised by simplified shapes and forms
-picasso purchased 2 iberian sculpture heads that inspired this idea

Question 9

influence of ethnographic museum

Answer 9

picasso visited ethnographic museum surrounded by primitive artefacts

primitive african masks picasso saw there influenced the faces of the figures

Question 10

influence of masks

Answer 10

-Influence from tribal masks at Trocadero

portrays the idea of a face instead of naturalism

reduction of form to stylised geometric elements

scarring on cheeks

Question 11

FEAR OF SYPHILLIS

Answer 11

the grotesque, mask-like faces, particularly the influence of African masks, can be interpreted as a way to dehumanize and distance the figures, representing Picasso’s fear of the physical and emotional consequences of sexual intimacy.

The brothel setting, distorted forms, and dehumanizing masks all reflect a deep unease about the consequences of sexual relationships, making the painting a groundbreaking exploration of early 20th-century anxieties around sex, disease, and modernity.

Picasso had a huge fear of syphillus- perhaps refelects the menacing presence of syphilis in everyday society and the risk he could catch it in sexual relations

Question 12

sens eof space

Answer 12

figures in foreground

claustrophobic

-gemetric planes of figures create an element of multiple perspective (anticipating cubism)

-DISTORTED SPACE, e.g crouch figure with head swivelled to viewer

Question 13

FIGURES ON RIGHT

Answer 13

One has a missing eye and scarring on cheek (INFLUENCE OF MASKS)

one has distorted face, overtly sexual pose

Question 14

FRAGMENTATION

Answer 14

-bodies fragmented like shards of glass (angular beasts/ limbs)

-CREATES SENSE OF DISTORTED PERSPECTIVE

Question 15

light

Answer 15

DARK MUTED COLOURS evoke a more ominous uran light, figures appear more starkly depicted and varied light adds to angularity of form

Question 16

HOW ORIGIONALLY DEPICTED

Answer 16

origionally more crowded with seven figures but removed to focus more on the psychological power of the figures and make a more compact composition

-there was a sailor and a medical student SHOWN in the 700 sketches