Art Critique: Exemplar Sheet
Pablo Picasso. Les Demoiselles d’Avignon. 1907
ART CRITIQUE
1. DESCRIPTION (What do you see?)
Title: Les Demoiselles d’Avignon
a) Artist: Pablo
Picasso
Medium:
Oil on Canvas
Size:
8’ x 7’8”
Location:
Year:
1907
The Museum of Modern Art, New York
b) Describe the subject, objects, and details included in the work of art. State
these facts without any opinion or persuasive words.
There are five nude women prostitutes posing in a brothel. They are all staring
out at the viewer. This brothel is located in Avignon, a red light district of
Barcelona. There is fruit lying on a table in the foreground.
c) Identify which of the 7 elements of design are used in this piece. (line,
shape, colour, form, texture, value, space)
Line, shape, colour, form, texture, value and space are all used in this piece.
ART CRITIQUE
2. ANALYSIS (How is the work organized?)
a) Identify THREE principles of design illustrated in the artwork (rhythm,
movement, balance, proportion, variety, emphasis, harmony, unity)
i) Balance
ii) Emphasis
iii) Harmony
b) For each PRINCIPLE of design, explain how the ELEMENT(s) of design help
illustrate that particular principle.
i) Principle: Balance
Explanation of how the ELEMENT(s) illustrates the principle in this artwork:
Shape and line help illustrate balance because the sharp curves and angles of the
female figures are repeated throughout not only the five figures, but in the drapery
and curtains in the background, creating an equal visual weight. Form also helps
create balance here because the female forms are all flattened into curving,
geometric shapes. The orange fleshy colour of the figures’ skin is also consistent
which helps create balance too.
ART CRITIQUE
2. ANALYSIS (How is the work organized?)
b) ii) Principle: Emphasis
Explanation of how the ELEMENT(s) illustrates the principle in this artwork:
Line helps create emphasis because the lines that make up the dark, almondshaped eyes of the prostitutes and their angular noses and straight mouths
contrast with the sharp, curved lines of their open arms and bodies. Because
of the contrasting lines, the viewer is drawn to their hard gazes. Value also
creates emphasis because the darker values that are shown on the left figure’s
face and the masks on the two right figures stand out against the orange flesh
tones of their bodies. The blue colours in the background also draw the
viewer’s attention to the figures more since they are done in the
iii)
Principle: Harmony
complementary
orange colour, thus creating emphasis.
Explanation of how the ELEMENT(s) illustrates the principle in this artwork:
Shape and line create harmony throughout this composition because the
triangular shape of the opened arms is repeated in most of the figures as well
as the sharp curves of their legs. The angular lines of the figures’ limbs and
fruit and the drapery in the background is also similar which harmonizes the
whole piece, making the background and foreground come together as one.
The light values that highlight the blue shapes in the background are repeated
around the bodies, which also creates harmony throughout the piece.
ART CRITIQUE
3. INTERPRETATION (What is the artist trying to communicate?)
a) What is the message, theme, or mood of the work?
The mood of the work seems to be hostile and aggressive. Picasso challenges
the idea that women, even prostitutes, are easy access and instead presents
an uncomfortable atmosphere where the prostitutes seem to challenge the
viewer with a hard and confrontational gaze. The women are not presented as
alluring or erotic but rather as cold, intimidating, and uninviting.
b) Support your answer above by referring to specific visual facts/clues in the
work of art. Your answer can also be based on your feelings as long as they
are supported by specific observations.
The hostile and aggressive mood is communicated by the way Picasso painted
the prostitutes. He uses sharp angles and curves for their bodies and although
they are all posed in inviting ways, their hard, blank gazes communicate a
message of hostility. The African-inspired masks that cover the two women on
the right seem to also illustrate that this is a hostile environment and create a
protective barrier between the viewer and the subject. The fruit in the
foreground, which is a traditional symbol of female sexuality has also been
reduced to flat and sharp shapes, and leads the viewers’ eye up the bodies of
the women, further emphasizing the aggressive atmosphere. Even the cold,
highlighted, angular lines of the background make the women appear
ART CRITIQUE
4. Judgment (Is it a successful work of art?)
a) Subjective Judgment: Do you think this work of art is successful? Why or
why not? (consider the subject and context of the painting, how the artist has
organized the elements according to the principles of design, and the feeling the
artwork
gives
I think this
is ayou)
successful work of art because Picasso presented his subject
matter, the prostitutes, in a way never before seen in the art world – he flattened
their shapes into angular curves and obscured some of their faces using Africanlike masks. Instead of painting the women in a soft, erotic way, he was able to
communicate the feeling of a hostile environment by reducing their forms to
curving geometric shapes and mask-like faces. His composition is well-balanced
and the drapery in the background not only contrasts with the colours of the
figures, drawing more attention to them, but also complements them because
their folds are sharp just like the folds of the women’s skin. This work of art is
revolutionary because Picasso has discovered a new way to represent the human
b)
Personal
Do you
like this message
work of art?
Why
or why not?
form
while stillJudgment:
communicating
a powerful
about
women.
(Remember, a work of art can be very successful aesthetically, but you may not
want
to live
with
I like this
work
ofit)art because it signifies a break with the traditional way of
presenting the human form. However, I would not want to live with it necessarily,
only because the hard gazes of the females and their obvious hostility, make me
uncomfortable. Picasso has done an excellent job making the viewer feel like the