In June 1907, a 25-year-old Pablo Picasso was struggling with a massive new canvas in his cramped Paris studio. Frustrated, he sought inspiration at the Palais du Trocadéro’s ethnographic museum. There, he encountered a collection of African masks. He later described them not as sculptures, but as ‘magic objects’ – mediators designed to ward off hostile spirits in a threatening world. For Picasso, they were more than artifacts; they were weapons. He felt they liberated him from the constraints of traditional Western art, which suddenly seemed pointless. The experience was a creative epiphany. He now knew how to finish his painting, and in doing so, he would break with centuries of artistic convention.
Pablo Picasso and the Invention of Cubism
How Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque invented Cubism together, from Les Demoiselles d'Avignon in 1907 to collage, until the First World War ended their partnership in 1914.
Chapter 1
The Magic Objects
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Frequently Asked Questions
What is Cubism?
Cubism is an early 20th-century art movement that revolutionized painting. Cubist artists abandoned traditional single-point perspective, instead depicting subjects from multiple viewpoints at once. This breaks objects down into geometric, fragmented planes, presenting a more complete, 'simultaneous' view than reality allows.
How did Cubism get its name?
The name was originally an insult. In 1908, the artist Henri Matisse, a jury member at a Paris art show, dismissed paintings by Georges Braque as looking like they were made of 'little cubes'. A critic named Louis Vauxcelles reported the remark in a newspaper, and the term 'Cubism' stuck.
Why was Picasso's 'Les Demoiselles d'Avignon' so important?
Completed in 1907, 'Les Demoiselles d'Avignon' is considered a foundational work of modern art. It broke from centuries of tradition by rendering five figures as jagged, splintered planes instead of realistic forms. The painting's mask-like faces and flat, confrontational surface were a radical departure that paved the way for Cubism.
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