Cubism
Cubism
is an art style developed by Pablo Picaso and George Braque in the 20th
century. This popular art movement involves the taking of a 3-D scene
and distorting it to create a 2-D painting. Space is distorted and objects
are broken into angular shapes.
The subject matter of cubism often includes still figures, landscapes and, frequently, still-life. Cubism leaves behind the naturalism of the Renaissance and, with its overlapping shapes, and odd angles offers up multiple viewpoints.
What some view as confusing, others view as harmonious and poetic. There
were two main branches of cubism. The first branch is known as analytical
cubism. 
The
artists strived for harmony by integrating objects and background into
a unified surface and often by the use of subdued colors. The second branch,
synthetic cubism, used mixed media, and a combination of styles and surfaces.
They also often used brighter colors. The effect was still harmonius.
Many artists took up cubism. Some artists pushed cubism to the point of pure abstraction which was a direction Picaso and Braque refused to go. The movement eventually inspired new art movements. Cubism is generally considered to have been the most influential art movement of the first half of the 20th century.
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