This trend was an organic continuation of the previous development of twentieth-century art in general and painting in particular.
The origins of this process should be sought in the work of the French Impressionists half a century earlier, but cubism in the twentieth century painting developed in all its might and breadth.
What preceded this
The style of cubism arose as a logical conclusion to the search for new forms in the visual arts. Its first manifestations can be observed in the works of the French post-impressionist Paul Cezanne. The key point in his painting is the emphasis on the volume of depicted objects. Impressionists who preceded him thought with large color spots and coloristic harmonies.
Cezanne was the first to set foot on this path of an exaggerated three-dimensional image of the shapes of objects. This began cubism in painting. The plastic methods of transferring forms discovered by Cezanne were picked up by other authors. A new approach to the image of the visible world opened up new, previously inaccessible expressive possibilities. Many were very wary of the new trends in art and accused the Cubists of breaking with the realistic traditions that had been established over many centuries. But the new artists were least of all interested in the realistic reflection of the objective world, they reflected in their painting primarily their own thoughts and emotions that arise in the soul when looking at nature. Cubism in painting opened up such an opportunity for them as broadly as ever before.
Varieties of cubism
A new direction in art quickly gained popularity. Already at the beginning of the twentieth century, cubism in painting became fashionable. Cloths of cubists were decorated with fashionable aristocratic salons and sold expensively in leading commercial galleries. The artists of Cubism were recognized as classics during their lifetime. The most prominent representative of this style is the famous Pablo Picasso. Cubism in painting is best studied by the example of his work. This style has gone through several logical stages of development. Moreover, the latter largely negates the original.
We are talking about analytical and synthetic cubism. At the first stage of cubism, the three-dimensional forms of the visible world were subjected to analytical decomposition into structural elements and simple geometric figures. And at the final, synthetic stage of development, something completely new was created from elementary structural elements that had never been seen before. Subsequently, on the basis of cubism, many new trends in the art of the twentieth century grew. First of all, this refers to expressionism and surrealism. Could not stay away from cubism architecture and sculpture. The search for artists of the cubist trend found a lively response both in the public consciousness and in many other areas of art: in literature, theater scenography and cinema. Cubism left the brightest mark in many types of applied arts, in all types of design, right down to the fashion industry.