About
Cubism, co-developed by Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque between 1907 and 1922, was the most radical departure from traditional art since the Renaissance. It shattered the single fixed viewpoint, showing objects from multiple angles simultaneously — fragmented, reassembled, and flattened. Picasso's 'Les Demoiselles d'Avignon' (1907) is considered its founding moment.
Analytic Cubism (1908–1912) used monochromatic palettes and fragmented forms; Synthetic Cubism (1912–1922) incorporated collage elements (newspapers, wallpaper). Cubism influenced virtually all 20th-century art movements — Futurism, Constructivism, Abstract Expressionism, and architecture. Artists influenced by it include Léger, Gris, Brancusi, and Duchamp.
# Top 10 Cubist works
- 1Les Demoiselles d'Avignon (Picasso)
- 2Girl with a Mandolin (Picasso)
- 3Ma Jolie (Picasso)
- 4Man with a Guitar (Braque)
- 5Houses at l'Estaque (Braque)
- 6Violin and Candlestick (Braque)
- 7Three Musicians (Picasso)
- 8Bottle of Vieux Marc (Picasso)
- 9Harlequin (Picasso)
- 10Woman with a Fan (Picasso)
Fascinating Facts
- ◆Cubism was partly influenced by African masks — Picasso saw them at the Trocadéro museum in Paris and was profoundly affected
- ◆Marcel Duchamp's 'Nude Descending a Staircase' (1912) showed cubist fragmentation applied to movement — scandalizing New York in 1913
- ◆Cubism's collage technique was invented by Picasso and Braque — gluing newspaper and wallpaper to canvas — transforming what counted as 'art'
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