Les Demoiselles d'Avignon facts for kids

Les Demoiselles d'Avignon (The Young Ladies of Avignon) was a 1907 cubist painting by Picasso. It represents five women. It took him nine months to paint it. Picasso gave up all attempts at traditional painting in this early cubist painting. He distorted the female figures in a way that showed the influence of African art. When the 8 square feet (0.74 m²) painting was shown in his studio to a group of painters and critics, they were outraged. Henri Matisse called it a hoax and an attempt to paint the fourth dimension.

It has been called one of the most significant paintings of the 20th century. The two figures on the right are shown with African mask-like features, an interest of Picasso at the time.

Images for kids

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  Paul Cézanne, Bather, 1885–1887, Museum of Modern Art, formerly collection Lillie P. Bliss

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  Henri Rousseau, The Hungry Lion Throws Itself on the Antelope, 1905, was the reason for the term Fauvism, and the original "Wild Beast"

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  African Fang mask similar in style to those Picasso saw in Paris just prior to painting Les Demoiselles d'Avignon

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  Congo masks published by Leo Frobenius in his 1898 book Die Masken und Geheimbunde Afrika

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  An illustration from Jouffret's Traité élémentaire de géométrie à quatre dimensions. The book, which influenced Picasso, was given to him by Princet.

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  Jacques Doucet's hôtel particulier, 33 rue Saint-James, Neuilly-sur-Seine, 1929 photograph Pierre Legrain