Matisse's Bonheur De Vivre And Les Demoiselles?

In this essay I will discuss three similar paintings, painted by three different painters around the same time period. Furthermore, I will discuss how both Matisse’s Bonheur de Vivre and Picasso’s Les Demoiselles d’Avignon were inspired by Paul Cézanne’s The Large Bathers.
First, I will discuss the piece that inspired Picasso and Matisse, The Large Bathers. This was painted by Paul Cézanne from 1898-1905 (“The large bathers, 1898-1905 by Paul Cezanne,” 2010). The painting depicts a group of nude woman in front of a lake; the triangle made by the trees attracts the onlooker to the distant figure in the background as well as the lake. The painting is sultry and allows the viewer to gaze into an illustration of natural looking woman, who appear in normality, sitting around the lake just conversing about their daily occurrences, maybe even bitching about their husband’s and kids, as woman do.

Unfortunately, Paul Cézanne passed away before his painting was finished, however his painting inspired a competitive movement.

The Large Bathers specifically, inspired Matisse’s Bonheur de Vivre and Picasso’s Les Demoiselles d’Avignon. Matisse’s Bonheur de Vivre, like The Large Bathers depicts nude men and woman surrounded by landscape, however, the painting is much more sensual than Cézanne’s painting. It shows lovers kissing, what appear to be nude women conversing and a group of woman dancing to the flute playing nude. This painting is much lighter, however clearly inspired by The Large Bather’s. The colors are bright and the figures bring you into the painting. Matisse’s painting is a clear upgrade over Cézanne and was briefly looked at as, “as the most daring painter in Paris” (Harris & Zucker,

2016).
As competition would have it, Matisse would only hold that title briefly, as Picasso refused to be outdone, he would come out of his shell and be known as a result of his need to compete with Matisse. This competitive streak revealed to the world Picasso’s Les Demoiselles d’Avignon. His painting was also inspired by Cézanne’s The Large Bather’s; however, I’d argue that Les Demoiselles d’Avignon was a direct response to Matisse’s Bonheur de Vivre. Les Demoiselles d’Avignon like the other two paintings depicts nude woman, however, Picasso provides his viewer with an almost pornographic painting, much vulgar than the other two. Unlike he woman in the previous paintings described, Picasso’s woman in his painting are erotic, sexual prostitutes residing in a brothel. Unlike the other paintings which are lighthearted and almost loving, Picasso provides the viewer with a bold expression, much different than the other two, his woman are harder looking, drawn with straight lines rather than curves, however you can see a similarity when looking at both Matisse and Picasso’s paintings in the woman standing with their hands behind their heads (Harris & Zucker, 2016).
In conclusion, it is clear to see the inspiration drawn from the original nude painting created by Cézanne, however, the competition by both Matisse and Picasso resulted in a different look of art, Matisse left us with a beautiful painting, with vibrant colors that I perceive as celebrating life and love of the nude body, where Picasso leaves behind a shameful, dark, and almost depressing look at the nude bodies of woman.

The large bathers, 1898-1905 by Paul Cezanne. (2010). Retrieved December 28, 2016, from Paul Cezanne, http://www.paulcezanne.org/the-large-bathers.jsp
Harris, B., & Zucker, S. (2016). Matisse, Bonheur de Vivre. Retrieved December 28, 2016, from Khan academy, https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/art-1010/early-abstraction/fauvism-matisse/a/matisse-bonheur-de-vivre
Harris, B., & Zucker, S. (2016). Picasso, Les Demoiselles d'Avignon. Retrieved December 28, 2016, from Khan academy, https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/art-1010/early-abstraction/cubism/a/picasso-les-demoiselles-davignon

Word count excluding references: 491