This painting was groundbreaking for the time and Picasso never showed it to the world until much later because he felt it was too radical to be seen (Ghare, 2011). The work of art is 5 women who are prostitutes in a brothel, some wearing African masks, and all showing themselves off to the world in almost barbaric poses for supposed ladies back then (Ghare, 2011). They are all in very confrontational poses as I would assume they would be to present themselves to the potential customers (Ghare, 2011). The painting depicts the women is a very unladylike fashion and the painting was deemed immoral in 1916 when it was shown at its first exhibit (Ghare, 2011).
Les Demoiselles d'Avignon uses color to show they are human and lifelike. We know this because Picasso chose a recognized color for human skin (Lester, 2010). This is called the comparative method. Just like blue is used to depict the sky, shades of brown can be used to depict different skin colors. It is interesting that Picasso chose to paint some of the faces with a darker color than their body. Some are even wearing black African masks which are depicted color as being harsh or unfeminine. This method is called the subjective method (Lester, 2010).
Picasso used shapes to depict the women and often changed the shapes to show a disjointed appearance. Picasso has always been known for deconstructing shapes to make unusual paintings. In Les Demoiselles d'Avignon, he uses shapes to depict that they are women and possibly not as plain or lady-like.