How did African art influence Les Demoiselles d’Avignon?

Pablo Picasso’s Les Demoiselles d’Avignon (1907) was significantly influenced by his study of African art, which played a pivotal role in the development of his radical geometric style and his transition toward Cubism.12

The influence of African art is most notably observed in the faces of the figures on the right side of the canvas. Picasso utilized masklike features to distort these faces, moving away from conventional representations of beauty. These masks reflect Picasso’s longstanding interest in what was then termed "primitive art," a fascination he shared with other contemporary painters such as Paul Gauguin.12

By incorporating these abstracted, non-naturalistic forms, Picasso challenged traditional Western art standards, creating a work that was perceived as a shocking and direct assault on artistic conventions. While the painting also drew upon art-historical traditions—including the work of Paul Cézanne, El Greco, and J.-A.-D. Ingres—the African-influenced striations and masklike heads were essential to the painting's power and its status as a foundational reference point for 20th-century Modernism.12