P a b l o P i c a s s o
{ T h r e e W o m e n }
O i l o n c a n v a s
( 1 9 0 8 )
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Picasso showed Les Demoiselles
d'Avignon to many of
his closest friends and most
discriminating patrons, but the
painting was so revolutionary
that even these members of the
avant-garde were stunned and
uncomprehending. Not
surprisingly, therefore, it was
not publicly exhibited for years.
But Picasso was not to be
diverted from his chosen path,
and Three Women, though more
conventionally harmonious as a
composition, is in most respects
as shocking as the Demoiselles.
Apart from the masklike heads,
evidently suggested by African
sculptures, the all-pervasive
redness and the radical
simplifications (for example,
the spade-like hand of the
figure on the left) still have the
power to disconcert. So have
the uplifted arms, which belong
to a pose that is by tradition
sexually inviting, but here, as in
Les Demoiselles d'Avignon, takes
on a curiously perfunctory,
ritual quality.
Original Painting: The Hermitage, St. Petersburg, Russia
Back to Gallery
Source: Life and Works of Picasso
Further Reading: Biography I
Further Reading: Life of Picasso
Further Reading: Pablo Picasso & Jean Cocteau
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