as if viewed from a side profile , yet we can see her entire eye. This Egyptian like side profile with a full view of the eye is also a physical impossibility. The unnatural appearance of the women is not the only way in which Picasso twists perspective. Picasso used unrelated shapes to create multiple planes throughout the painting. The shapes fill up empty space in the background and confuses our sense of depth. All elements in the painting seem to be forced together. One cannot perceive how far away the blue curtain is from the two women in the middle. This aspect enhances the confrontational nature of the painting. The lack of depth seems to push horrible women right towards you. He also creates uncertainty of the visual senses. When uncertainty occurs in any of our senses, a sort of panic sets in. Picasso creates panic. The viewer cannot tell if the terrible women are very close or very far. It almost looks as if the figures are close enough to reach out and grab someone , yet Picasso does not allow us to visually check this. The uncertainty of space was a totally new feeling for paintings. In older paintings, even the most horrible subjects seemed to be at least stuck within the painting. For example , James Ensor?s Intrigue , is much more menacing then Les Demoiselles d?Avignon , yet the viewer can at least come to grips with the closeness of the masked faces. Ensor confirms that we must deal with these people through the use of Linear perspective.11 Les Demoiselles d?Avignon provides the viewer with no idea of how to orient him or herself. This new arrangement of space in Les Demoiselles d?Avignon would eventually be thought of as the beginnings of cubism. Although the heavy distortion in perception is unnerving, the distortion of the female nude violated a much more sacred aspect of painting. Picasso restructured the female nude into harsh angular planes with strange faces. Gone were the typical curvy l...
