Comparison Of Bonheur De Vivre And Les Demoiselles

Cezanne, Matisse, and Picasso

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Cezanne, Matisse, and Picasso

The nude figure has been ubiquitous throughout art history. It can be dated back to antiquity even. We have seen it depicted in the form of classical beauty in paintings and sculptures from the Ancient Greek and through the Renaissance and Baroque periods. But, it’s not until after the beginnings of modern art do we see a shift in the portrayal of the nude figure into something more abstract and figurative. Paul Cezanne’s The Large Bathers, Henri Matisse’s Bonheur de Vivre, and Pablo Picasso’s Les Demoiselles d’Avignon are three early 20th century examples of how modern art changes in depicting the nude and it reveals not just a shift in formal techniques in art, but a new vision, philosophy, and ideal in the way we view art. By comparing these paintings, we can see how Cezanne’s work was an

Bonheur de Vivre

Finally, we look at Pablo Picasso’s Les Demoiselles d’Avignon; a painting of prostitutes from a brothel where Picasso was known to frequent. By comparing this painting to Matisse’s, we begin to see the competition for radicalism in the French art movements of the 20th century (Harris & Zucker, n.d.). Picasso redefines not only art’s intention to represent the world in its natural state, but he redefines modern art’s use of formal elements of line, color, and space. He portrays the women in fragments of form. Harris & Zucker (n.d.) compare these two paintings with the following analysis:

Picasso has also dispensed with Matisse’s clear, bright pigments. Instead, the artist chooses deeper tones befitting urban interior light. Gone too, is the sensuality that Matisse created. Picasso has replaced the graceful curves of Bonheur de Vivre with sharp, jagged, almost shattered forms. The bodies of Picasso’s women look dangerous as if they were formed of shards of broken glass. Matisse’s pleasure becomes Picasso’s apprehension (para.