Les Demoiselles d'Avignon by Picasso: The Painting That Broke Cubism Open (1907)
Five nudes face you like a broken wall. Two wear faces that look carved, not painted; the space behind them shatters into planes. Pablo Picasso's Les Demoiselles d'Avignon (1907) does not gently invent Cubism - it kicks the door in. A Barcelona brothel scene becomes the twentieth century's most famous argument against polite looking. Quick facts Artist: Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) Date: 1907 Medium: Oil on canvas Collection: Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York Notable fact: Painted 1906-1907; long kept in Picasso's studio before public shockwaves; often treated as Cubism's ignition point Pablo Picasso, Les Demoiselles d'Avignon , 1907. Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York. From Soft Bodies to Hard Facets Early studies still nod to classical nudes and Iberian sculpture. The finished canvas hardens everything: angular breasts, curtain-like folds, eyes that do not share one perspective. African and Iberian mask traditions press into the two figure...