

Although he may have denied African influence at some point, there is evidence that this period and his most influential stylistic device, Cubism, was in fact influenced by African art. The piece that ignited the spark in Picasso, which would make him the most renowned painter in modern art, is Les Demoiselles d’Avignon. In the painting, five nude women peer out and look directly at the viewer. It is said that the women are prostitutes. He positioned the naked bodies seductively with arms placed behind their heads to show off their breasts. The dark almond-shaped eyes of the three women on the left are said to resemble Iberian sculptures. It seems as though Picasso painted African masks on the heads of the two women on the right. And also, the angular shapes in this painting are similar to the carvings of some African sculptures.