“Are we to paint what’s on the face, what’s inside the face, or what’s behind it?” (Picasso)

In honor of Pablo’s birthday (he was born on October 25, 1881), here’s a little walk down memory lane (through photos) of the “life” one of my favorite Picasso’s Les Demoiselles d’Avignon (Paris, June-July 1907).

Le Bateau Lavoir (Montmartre, Paris) where Picasso’s studio was during the summer of 1907 when he painted Demoiselles.

A. Conger Goodyear and Nelson A. Rockefeller with Demoiselles d’Avignon by Pablo Picasso. A. Conger Goodyear Scrapbooks, 52. The Museum of Modern Art Archives, New York. 1939. Digital Image © The Museum of Modern Art/Licensed by SCALA / Art Resource, NY.

Installation view of the Picasso Galleries (Boy Leading a Horse, left; Les Demoiselles d’Avignon, center) in the newly renovated MoMA, which appeared in a special printed issue of the New Criterion (1984).

Installation view of the exhibition, “XXVth Anniversary Exhibitions: Paintings.” The Museum of Modern Art, New York. October 19, 1954 through January 23, 1955. Digital Image © The Museum of Modern Art/Licensed by SCALA / Art Resource, NY.

Installation view of the exhibition, “‘Primitivism’ in 20th Century Art: Affinity of the Tribal and the Modern”. The Museum of Modern Art, New York. September 12, 1984 through November 27, 1984. Digital Image © The Museum of Modern Art/Licensed by SCALA / Art Resource, NY.

Michael Duffy, conservator at the Museum of Modern Art,

Demoiselles at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) yesterday (October 24, 2012). Photo: Rebecca Taylor.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, PABLO!