Cubism is a part of the abstraction period of modern art in the beginning of the twentieth century. There was a series ‘isms’ that influenced each other and came quickly in the modern world of art. These include Neoclassicism, Romanticism, Realism, Impressionism, Post-Impressionism, Divisionism and Symbolism. It was believed to be started with Picasso and Braque in 1907.
Cubism was a movement of modern artists going against the accepted style of paintings and pushing the boundaries of what was modern art. The Impressionists and Realists of the late 19th century started to paint more everyday items and in a more spontaneous fashion, in contrast to the classical period which came before. Immediately before cubism were artists like Cezanne and Seurat who were considered to be post impressionists who were converting impressionism into a more classical style. Then Van Gogh wanted to express more emotion in his art than the impressionists had, and his style started to develop including vivid colours and bright landscapes. Art in the modern world moved from telling stories and depicting important historical occasions, to a more personal approach from the artist. The artist wanted to explore their emotions, the everyday and play with form, perspective and composition
These colours and need to express emotions led to different movements of expressionism, the Fauves (wild beasts) which had artists including Van Gogh and Gauguin, German expressionism was more extreme, Abstraction came after this and cubism was one of the forms that led heavily from it.
During 1908, Braque and Picasso realised they were working towards the same ideas and decided to work together until 1914. Their principal subject became the still life. They experimented with painting and sculpture to express and challenge the way objects are represented. What you see depicted in a cubist work is not a realistic representation of the object, but a flattening of the planes that