Breaking the world into shapes
Cubism takes a face or a guitar or a chair and breaks it into shapes seen from many angles at once. The front and side of the same nose, in the same picture. It looks weird at first. It rewires how you see.
What this style actually is
Cubism was invented by two people working in the same neighborhood: Picasso and Braque, in Montmartre, Paris, around 1907-1908. They were trying to do something paint had never done: show multiple views simultaneously.
The first phase (Analytic Cubism) used almost no color — just brown, gray, ochre. The shapes did the work. The second phase (Synthetic Cubism) added collage. Newspaper, wallpaper, sheet music, glued onto the canvas. It was the first time fine art said 'these mundane materials count too.'
Cubism reshaped 20th-century art. Without it: no abstract expressionism, no minimalism, no modern graphic design. Even logo design owes cubism a debt — the way a brand mark distills a thing to its essential shapes is a cubist move.
Who shaped it
Famous masters and the lesser-known voices who pushed the work forward.
Co-invented cubism. Then invented several other styles. Made 50,000 works in his lifetime. Difficult man, prolific genius, unavoidable. Start with Les Demoiselles d'Avignon (1907) — the painting where cubism began.
Known for: Les Demoiselles d'Avignon · Guernica · Girl Before a Mirror
Co-invented cubism with Picasso. Quieter career, but his paintings might be the more refined of the two. Said he and Picasso were 'roped together like mountaineers' during the early cubism years.
Known for: Houses at L'Estaque · Violin and Candlestick · The Portuguese
The most graceful cubist. Started with Picasso and Braque but developed a colorful, almost decorative style. Died young of leukemia at 40.
Known for: Portrait of Picasso · Still Life with Checked Tablecloth
Took cubism into pure geometry. Russian avant-garde, painted shapes that look like architecture. Died at 35 of scarlet fever caught from her son.
Known for: Architectonic Painting · Spatial Force Construction
Wrote the first book explaining cubism (with Albert Gleizes). Made paintings that were essentially cubist textbooks. Important for the spread of the movement.
Known for: Le Goûter (Tea Time)
Took cubist geometry into fabric, fashion, and book design. The first living woman to have a solo show at the Louvre. Made cubism move.
Known for: Electric Prisms · Rhythm series
How to see it
A nose in profile and a face from front in the same drawing. A guitar's f-hole AND its silhouette in the same plane. The brain at first refuses; then it accepts.
Everything becomes cubes, cones, cylinders, planes. A face is a few flat planes. A bottle is a cylinder + ellipse. Cubists were architects of seeing.
In Synthetic Cubism (after 1912), real materials show up — newspaper, wallpaper, sheet music. Look for them. They give the painting a literal piece of the real world.
How to practice it
Pick the tier that fits where you are. Move up when the current tier feels too easy.
Beginner
Intermediate
Advanced
Tools sized to this style
More important than brushes for early cubism. Get a good pair.
Stock up. You'll cut a lot of shapes.
Cubist outlines are graphic. Sharpies, Posca pens, brush markers all work.
Brown, gray, ochre, black, white. Maybe one cool color (indigo). The early cubists were monochromatic on purpose.
Cubism is geometric. The structure matters. Don't pretend you don't need them.
Tan or grey toned paper makes the limited cubist palette pop. Strathmore Toned Tan is the budget pick.