Les Demoiselles D Avignon

In the 20th century, new artists and forms of art arose that was both ground-breaking and controversial. Two examples of the controversial and innovative works of art are Igor Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring and Pablo Picasso’s Les Demoiselles d’Avignon. Picasso was not only a well-known artist in modern art but also had a distinct style for artistic creation. Stravinsky was the composer for the “most significant trends in modern music during his lifetime” (Isaacs, David). He went from being a neo-classical composer to steadily progressing towards avant-garde (Isaacs, David). In this essay, I will discuss how the Rite of Spring and Les Demoiselles d’Avignon breaks off from the traditional standards of form and content, and also compare both artworks.
In 1913, he composed one the most important pieces of the 20th century, a controversial orchestra and ballet called the Rite of Spring. When the ballet first premiered in Paris, the audience were shocked and protested against the music and choreography (Fiero, Gloria). In fact, most if not all, of the public were of high class and expected a traditional composition/ballet that is calm and graceful. However, the “angular, dissonant and totally unpredictable” music as well as the “outrageous costumes, unusual choreography and bizarre story of pagan sacrifice” scandalized the audience; it was considered as savage(Fiero,
Picasso’s Les Demoiselles d’Avignon is a well-known painting that shocked many people due to its untraditional pictorial representation. Les Demoiselles d’Avignon depicts five nude women who were also prostitutes of a Barcelona bordello in the Carrer d’Avignon (Fiero, Gloria). The portrayal of naked women was not the issue. The issue was that he painted women as prostitutes in aggressive sexual postures which were unusual in paintings at that time. The painting was widely thought to be immoral when it was finally exhibited in public in 1916 ("Pablo