Les Demoiselles d'Avignon by Pablo Picasso - Essay Example

3 May Art Essay The art that I have chosen to analyze is Les Demoiselles d’Avignon by Pablo Picasso. This translates in English to ‘The Young Ladies of Avignon.’ The art technique is painting and the media used is oil paint on canvas. I chose this painting because of the elements of nude colored women and how they contrast with the bright background behind the subjects in the painting. The subject of the painting is five women who are believed to be prostitutes in Spain. It is believed to depict prostitutes within a Spanish brothel.

The five women are all painted in very unique ways. They are all very surreal looking and painted in a non-realistic way. The elements in art used for this Picasso painting are that it is abstract and appears to be a representation of the modern time frame. It is two-dimensional in space and it lacks any congruity because the figures are all very different. The faces all look different and two of the five women could be seen as wearing masks which almost look inspired by African art. The lines are very sharp and space has an interesting concept because it almost looks like a mosaic.

Their anatomy is awkward as the figures are not proportionate like their arms might be significantly large while their head is small, especially in the figure second from the left. Their breasts lack uniformity and some of them do not even seem to have them. The title is all that gives away what Picasso was even painting. The painting lacks any unity or balance in terms of the style or principle of art of which the women are depicted and it looks like an experiment.