From Convention to Contention: La Famille de Saltimbanques and Les Demoiselles d'Avignon

In 1905 and 1907 Pablo Picasso worked on two large canvases for which multiple preparatory studies exist. These paintings marked quite different stages in the Spaniard's career. If the first one symbolized his final acceptance into the French modernist establishment, which is usually known as his Rose Period; the second was meant to be a radical break from those conventions, and a determined push to distance himself from established practices. More specifically, what took place between the two canvases was a transition from a fusion of realism and metaphor/allegory to a neo-primitive (and modern) perspective leading to quasi-abstraction. Not surprisingly, the first painting was auction for a record-breaking price in March of 1914, despite the growing political tensions between the great powers, particularly France and Germany, caused by colonial competition and old territorial grievances. Conversely, the second painting sold for much less in 1923, even though France was experiencing a period of rapid economic growth and social change: the so-called "Roaring 20s."