1907 -1920s · analytical, synthetic cubism and orphism

From Gleizes to Juan Gris and Robert Delaunay, Cubism fragments space, multiplies points of view and reconstructs portraits, objects and cities through planes, rhythms and colorful chords.

Cubism was born in Paris around 1907 in the close dialogue between Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque. Cézanne's legacy, which simplifies volumes and shifts perspective, then meets the study of African and Oceanian sculptures, often taken out of their colonial context. Instead of imitating a single point of view, artists break down figure, object and space into shots which seem to be observed successively then brought together on the surface. Around 1910, analytical cubism tightens the palette around ochres, gray and brown; guitar, face or bottle are discernible in a network of facets. From 1912, glued papers, letters, newspapers and printed motifs open the phase synthetic. The shapes become simpler, color returns and the everyday object materially enters the work. The movement soon surpasses Picasso and Braque. Albert Gleizes and Jean Metzinger published Du Cubisme in 1912 and presented a broader design, attentive to simultaneity, movement and modern life. Gleizes applied this construction to portraits, shows, bridges and the American city. Juan Gris brings architectural clarity to still lifes: compote, newspaper, glass and tablecloth remain readable while fitting together according to precise logic. Robert Delaunay transforms Cubist fragmentation through simultaneous color. Eiffel Tower, windows and records become luminous rhythms close to orphism. Interrupted as a coherent group by the First World War, cubism then irrigates abstraction, futurism, constructivism, dada and international modern art. A faithful reproduction must preserve the limits of each shot, the overlaps, the typographic fragments, the colorful contrasts and the tension between recognizable motif and autonomous construction. The "Cubist masterpieces" selection notably compares Portrait of a Military Doctor - Albert Gleizes and Compotier and Checkered Tablecloth - Juan Gris. His reading favors drawing.

Cubism does not destroy reality: it dismantles it to show that a face, an object or a city can be understood by several perceptions combined.