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Pablo Picasso. Les Demoiselles d'Avignon. 1907.

Second Campaign

Picasso altered the original composition, aggressively painting over some of the figures and adding strong finishing strokes in a number of areas.


Pictured above:
Pablo Picasso. Les Demoiselles d'Avignon. 1907. Oil on canvas, 8' x 7' 8" (243.9 x 233.7 cm). Acquired through the Lillie P. Bliss Bequest. © 2003 Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Fig. 1 - Detail: Example of second campaign

Fig. 1

Here Picasso has extended the hips and added a breast to the figure, both with a hot orange pigment. He has also quickly painted over part of the arm with thin brown paint and added bold blue outlines to some of the figure.

 
Fig. 2 - Detail: Example of second campaign

Fig. 2

The same blue used in the final outline of the crouching figure in Fig. 1 is also used to outline the leg of the standing figure. Picasso has also added white, echoing the original foot and toes.
 
Fig. 3 - Detail: Example of second campaign

Fig. 3

The final passages of paint are black, creating the illusion of space behind the knee of the standing, curtain-pulling figure. Once again, the casually bold blue outlines the form.
 
Fig. 4 - Detail: Example of second campaign

Fig. 4

Here, at the bottom of the crouching figure, the artist has added some of the blue lines seen in Fig. 1 through Fig. 3, but then decided to paint them out. The blue lines were only partially covered, once again indicating that Picasso did not mind having the process of making and changing this work evident.
 
Fig. 5 - Detail: Example of second campaign

Fig. 5

Blue paint used to outline forms during the final campaign on the painting.
 
Copyright 2003 The Museum of Modern Art