9. Picasso, like many other men of the time, frequented sex workers and shocked the world with paintings of their intimate time together.
Early 20th century Spain had a very different culture than the modern United States when it comes to prostitution and brothels. It was not at all uncommon for men to go to church Sunday morning, visit the brothels in the afternoon, and meet up for drinks in the evening to discuss religion, politics, and their experiences at the brothels earlier that day. Brothels and sex work just didn’t have the taboo than that they do now.
Picasso was introduced to brothel culture early in life by a father who was renowned to frequent brothels quite frequently. His father, who was also an artist, would spend a significant number of his evenings at brothels while his mother and sisters raised Picasso. Picasso himself lost his virginity to a sex worker at the age of 13 or 14.
Picasso’s familiarity with, and interest in, sex workers were put on display for the world to see in 1907 when he introduced the cubist painting Les Demoiselles d’Avignon, which featured Parisian sex workers in various stances. It caused a minor uproar upon its revelation, due to both the subject matter and the African imagery and style infused into the more traditional Picasso-style cubism.