5. Pablo Picasso – Les Demoiselles D’Avignon, 1907
The work was originally titled ‘The Brothel of Avignon’ and was created in 1907 by the artist. The work portrays five nude female prostitutes from a brothel on Carrer d’Avinyó (Avinyó Street) in Barcelona. Each figure is depicted in a disconcerting confrontational manner and none are conventionally feminine. Three figures on the left exhibit facial features in the Iberian style of Picasso’s native Spain, while the two on the right are shown with African mask-like features. The primitivism evoked in these masks, according to Picasso, moved him to “liberate an utterly original artistic style of compelling, even savage force.” While many were shocked and some outraged, influential people such as Georges Braque and Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler were supportive. Les Demoiselles had an enormous and profound influence on modern art, but its impact was not immediate, and the painting stayed in Picasso’s studio for many years.