‘Les Demoiselles d’Avignon’ by Pablo PicassoI’ve never been a fan of Picasso, except for the fact that his paintings and demonized relationships with women are made visual and the subject of numerous biographies. In his genius Picasso opens up the male psyche and lays bare his obsession with femaleness.

Reading this morning Picasso’s words: “You cannot go against nature. She is stronger than the strongest of men. We can permit ourselves some liberties, but in details only” made me think of International Women’s Day and the women of Egypt marching today on behalf of themselves.

Across Egypt nine in 10 women have their clitoris cut out, the past and present remnants of a culture that believes female sensuality is more powerful than “the strongest of men. We can permit ourselves some liberties, but in details only”.

‘Les Demoiselles d’Avignon’ by Pablo Picasso was originally titled ‘the Brothel of Avignon’ and it’s said that Picasso had all five women for his pleasure.

Each figure is depicted in a disconcerting confrontational manner and none are conventionally feminine. The women appear as slightly menacing and rendered with angular and disjointed body shapes. Two are shown with African mask-like faces and three more with faces in the Iberian style of Picasso’s native Spain, giving them a savage aura. In this adaptation of Primitivism and abandonment of perspective in favor of a flat, two-dimensional picture plane, Picasso makes a radical departure from traditional European painting. The work is widely considered to be seminal in the early development of both Cubism and modern art. Demoiselles was revolutionary and controversial, and led to wide anger and disagreement, even amongst his closest associates and friends. via Wiki

If we acted on the universal truths about women revealed in Picasso’s art, his life would have more relevance to me.

I like how the Telegraph described a story about Picasso, related to his 2009 show ‘Picasso: Challenging the Past’ at London’s National Gallery:

Mark Hudson looks at how the artist saw the women in his life — as either goddesses or doormats.

‘Women are machines for suffering,’ Picasso told Françoise Gilot in 1943. As the 61-year-old artists embarked on a nine-year-affair with the 21 year-old student said: ‘For me there are only two kinds of women: goddesses and doormats.’

Fighting the Boys Club