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Modern realist movements

Faithful to the two-dimensionality of the picture, early Cubism and the abstract movements which followed it attached very little importance to the shadow. It was not until Giorgio de Chirico that the shadow returned to the forefront, halfway between naturalistic authenticity and nightmare. With the Dutch artists Pyke Koch, Carel Willink and Dick Ket, pseudo-cinematographic shadows linked to the statuary character of the figure - as taken from Piero della Francesca and Mantegna - entered the realm of "magic reality". The duality of an apparently stable order with menacing hints of the sinister can be seen with other nuances in the work of Christian Schad, Felix Nussbaum, Edward Hopper, Rockwell Kent, Alfonso Ponce de León and Gregorio Prieto. More uniquely, with Picasso the artist's shadow - which is also the spectator's shadow - is cast over the naked woman depicted in the painting.