Picasso's Innovation and Influence of Cubism on Modern Art

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Picasso and Cubism
Cubism was an influential visual art style that highlighted geometric forms without necessarily depicting landscapes, and was mostly associated with Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque. Picasso was inspired by non-western art as he developed his techniques rejecting the notion that painters had to copy the landscape or use the traditional and conventional techniques while painting. The paintings then appear two-dimensional fractured as though they can be realigned together, while containing diverse vantage points. Unlike the previous painters, Cubism allowed the painters to separate the art forms into different components and viewers could see the different elements simultaneously as there was no fixed angle. This paper focuses on Picasso’s innovation and influence of Cubism on modern art.
The first phase of Cubism was analytical where the geometrical forms were prominent and the pictures were characterized with subdued colors (Croddy, 246). One of the fits painting inspired by African art using analytical Cubism was Les Demoiselles d'Avignon. The subject was five ladies in a brothel, and this departed from the Middle-Class themes in art and culture at the beginning of the 20th century. Like other paintings during this phase, the picture was largely unemotional and monochromatic, but the artist was able to highlight the essence of the picture. Then abstract paintings were still recognizable as it was possible to reconstruct the images based on the subjects. The analytical Cubism phase then laid the foundation for the representation of three-dimensional forms, while also preferring line drawing than the dominant Impressionism common at the time.
Picasso’s experimentation with analytical Cubism was associated with fragmented facets in paintings that made it easier to view different aspects simultaneously. Analytical description was more prominent that the form of the objects, and the painter’s technique would be adopted by the modern artist (Croddy 248). The array of colors in the paintings were few compared to the later period of synthetic Cubism to allow the viewer to focus more on the form. Despite using fragmented facets, there were overlapping planes to emphasize the different viewpoints. Analytical Cubism influenced modern painters to emphasize line drawing and not the color.
The next phase of synthetic Cubism was associated with the painter using collage, and integrated elements from sculptures bridging the gap between the two art forms. Unlike the analytical Cubism, synthetic Cubism integrated the use of brighter colors while the images were simpler. Using both paint and collage resulted in a more diverse textures and tonal differentiation (Clark 51). The paint appeared alongside the collages giving the picture different texture unlike before where images were made of interweaving planes. Using brighter paints and combining different forms then highlighted the differentiation of the reality from the illusion.
Picasso’s work on Cubism influenced the modern art and the painting style highlighted different angles to view a painting. By breaking away from traditional, Picasso was able to express himself in a way that was not dictated by...