Picasso and the Painting That Shocked the World

Describing Les Demoiselles d’Avignon—the 1907 painting alluded to in the title—as the canvas that “splits art historical time into an old and new epoch, BC and AD,” the author of this riveting biocritical study makes a case that Picasso’s seminal work serves as both the linchpin for modernism in the pictorial arts and the primary focus through which people view Picasso’s artistic legacy today. Unger (Michelangelo: A Life in Six Masterpieces) vividly recreates the scene of early 20th-century Montmartre and Picasso’s studio in the Bateau Lavor, where the artist held court with a devoted band that included the writers Guillaume Apollinaire and Max Jacob, a host of struggling fellow artists, and the visionary collectors Leo and Gertrude Stein. He describes how Picasso synthesized the ideas of artists who influenced him (especially El Greco, Gauguin, and Cézanne) into the underpinnings of Cubism. Unger even imparts an element of drama to the artist’s rivalry with Henri Matisse, as Picasso strives to find a form of expression that will capture “the technological and social innovations associated with modernity” (“a crucial task of the avant-garde”)—an effort that culminated in Les Demoiselles d’Avignon. This engrossing book chronicles with precision and enthusiasm a painting with lasting impact in today’s art world. [em](Feb.) [/em]