Even at the time, Picasso
knew that this was the most
important picture he had
painted so far. He spent
months on preparatory
sketches, made major changes
even when the work was in
progress, and produced a
bigger finished canvas than he
had ever attempted before.
In
painting these five ladies from
a maison close (brothel), Picasso
launched a revolt against the
entire naturalistic tradition of
Western art. Western visual
conventions - accurate
perspective and a single
viewpoint - are violated, for
example in the seated woman
on the right, seen
simultaneously full-face and
from behind. The faces of the
central figures reflect Picasso's
interest in ancient Iberian art;
the rest have mask-heads
directly inspired by the African
sculptures which Picasso had
seen in Paris's Musee de
1'Homme. The women are
monumental, like primitive
sculptures, yet there is also a
faceting and an emphasis on
geometry that hint at Picasso's
Cubist future.
