André Salmon tags Picasso’s iconic canvas Demoiselles d’Avignon (1907) as "philosophic brothel" — not so much to verify Baudelaire’s famous dictum that all art is prostitution nor to identify the scene as a colorful representation of the oldest profession in the world, but to pay homage to the genesis of the image as the direct and indirect interaction of the cubist painter with Gertrude Stein and William James. The masques in the painting are often considered to be cult-fetishistic items of magic, but actually need to be credited as designs taken from James’ Principles of Psychology. Prior to the Demoiselles, Picasso has painted the portrait of Gertrude Stein — she having been a student of William James. Thus we have an intricate triangle whose contact points can elucidate aspects of pictorial art, literature and philosophy.