Cubism completely reshaped how artists depict the world around them. As Modernism came boldly into being, the story of art as we know it was written. At the center of that story stands Pablo Picasso. Discover Picasso’s influence and how he helped develop one of the most celebrated art styles of all time.Who was Pablo Picasso?Pablo Picasso, born in Málaga, Spain, in 1881, was one of the most influential and prolific artists of the 20th century. Raised in an artistic household—his father was a painter and art teacher—Picasso showed remarkable talent from an early age. He began formal training at the age of seven and studied at several prestigious art schools in Spain. However, he found academic instruction too limiting and eventually moved to Paris, the center of the art world at the time, where his career quickly gained momentum.What are the different periods of Picasso’s work?Picasso’s early art is often divided into two distinct phases: the Blue Period (1901–1904) and the Rose Period (1904–1906). The Blue Period, influenced by personal hardship and the suicide of a friend, featured melancholic scenes rendered in monochrome blues and greens. In contrast, the Rose Period introduced warmer colors—pinks, reds, and earth tones—and shifted to more optimistic or whimsical subjects like circus performers and harlequins. These periods marked the early signs of Picasso’s emotional depth and stylistic versatility, as the iconic markers of Cubism slowly emerged.What materials and techniques did Picasso use?Throughout his life, Picasso experimented with a vast array of media and styles, making him one of the most versatile and prolific artists in history. He worked extensively in painting, sculpture, ceramics, collage, printmaking, and drawing. Over the course of his lifetime, he is estimated to have produced more than 20,000 artworks. Picasso constantly pushed the boundaries of artistic convention, refusing to be confined to a single approach or discipline.What is Cubism, and how did Picasso contribute to it? One of Picasso’s most revolutionary contributions was the co-founding of Cubism, alongside Georges Braque, around 1907. Cubism broke away from traditional perspectives, instead depicting objects and figures from multiple viewpoints at once. Cubist art sought to reconfigure the visual elements of recognizable imagery into newly assembled, or disassembled arrangements. Reminiscent of a distorted jigsaw puzzle, the elements of each artwork are conjoined in haphazard shapes. This technique allowed Picasso to render three-dimensional objects on a flat artwork in revolutionary new ways. Such a total departure from naturalist figuration was heavily influenced by the work of Post-Impressionist artists like Georges Seurat and Paul Cézanne. Cézanne’s analytical approach to form and structure, in particular, laid the groundwork for Cubism’s fragmented and abstracted visual language. Cubism challenged viewers to see the world in a new, conceptual way, emphasizing the geometry of forms over direct representation.What is Picasso’s more celebrated Cubist artwork? Les Demoiselles d’Avignon, created early in Picasso’s career in 1907, is one of Picasso’s most significant Cubist works. This artwork marks a total break from the traditional forms of representation that still dominated the art world. Here, Picasso shattered conventional perspective and form, portraying five female figures with angular, fragmented bodies and mask-like faces influenced by African art that Picasso would have seen at the Trocadero Museum in Paris. This bold departure from naturalism challenged centuries of Western artistic tradition and laid the groundwork for the development of analytical Cubism. By deconstructing space and form, Les Demoiselles d’Avignon became a revolutionary turning point—not only in Picasso’s career but also in the evolution of modern art—signaling the birth of a new visual language that would transform 20th-century art.What is Picasso’s legacy on contemporary art?Through constant reinvention and fearless experimentation, Picasso redefined what pictorial representation could look like. He shattered traditional expectations of perspective, form, and realism, forever changing the art world. His legacy endures not just in museums, but in the very language of visual art today.The post Picasso & the History of Cubism appeared first on Canvas: A Blog By Saatchi Art.