Pablo Picasso was born in Malaga, Spain on October 25, 1881. His father …show more content…
Cezanne died in 1906 while still working on his famous painting Large Bathers, which was very influential for anyone in the early 1900’s. This painting can be viewed as the piece that initiated the vigorous experimentation of art in the 20th century . Cezanne had left behind his opinion of art and how the approach of painting the modern nude would indubitably change. Another great influence to Picasso was Henri Matisse an accomplished artist who met Picasso in 1906 and understood the amount of talent Picasso had. Matisse who was also inspired by the Large Bathers completed his painting Bonheur de Vivre in 1906. It was his response to the Large Bathers and it launched him into the spotlight making young Picasso jealous for recognition. The Bonheur de Vivre was a painting that had an idyllic scene of reclining nudes, embracing lovers, and carefree dancers along with vivid colors and a skewed perspective. Picasso also derived inspiration from the African masks that he had been studying, the geometrical properties represented in the African mask and their ability to give the human complexion an abstract …show more content…
He is trying to bring the viewers into his world, a world full of lust, fear and sin. Picasso created many sketches and in some of the original sketches for this painting Picasso had two men, one a medical student and the other a sailor. The medical student is seen in some sketches holding a skull. It could be possible that Picasso initially wanted his audiences to know about the fatal consequences of visiting a place like the brothel. The skull could also signify a memento muri and symbolize the connotation between sensual pleasures of life and a fatal sin. The sailor could have been Picasso himself, as he was often seen wearing his stripped sailor shirt, and he often visited the young ladies in the streets of Avignon. The women depicted in the painting may be prostitutes but they are not appealing in the traditional sense. He purposely makes these women surreal with pointed and strange features in order to uncover the true ugliness of these