Determining the 10 most famous Cubist paintings in an objective and scientific way is impossible, because there is no way of knowing how many people have heard of just one cubist painting, let alone all of them – unless of course if you are psychic and you just know the answer (and if you are, please let us know). Kidding aside, we’ve done our best to find out some of the most valuable and world-known paintings in the style of Cubism.
Cubism art was the art of the 20th century; “it radically destroyed traditional illusionism in painting, revolutionized the way we see the world (as Juan Gris said), and paved the way for the pure abstraction that dominated Western art for the next 50 years”. Some of the world’s greatest artists in history were Cubists. If you like reading about painters, and are curious how rich a painter can get, you can check out our list of 6 Richest Painters In The World 2014.
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Cubist founders, Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque, along with Juan Gris “the third Cubist” are definitely the most famous and the most significant artists of the movement, and that is why we felt that it’s natural for them to dominate the list of 10 most famous Cubist paintings. If we were to measure a painting’s popularity by using Google Trends, our list would begin and end with Pablo Picasso’s paintings with no other authors present on it, so we concluded that this way of ranking is not feasible. For our list, we’ve chosen paintings that we deem are the most important works of the Cubist movement, though measuring importance is a subjective thing, and even the art historians can disagree on the matter, so please forgive us if you are one and you do not agree with our list. It is also necessary to explain that we did not limit our list to the art period of the Cubism, but instead, we used the paintings that are in the style of Cubism.
We feel obliged to mention some notable artists that were part of the Cubist movement, but whose paintings didn’t get into our list: Andre Lhote, Albert Gleizes, Robert Delaunay, Henri Le Fauconnier, Fernand Léger. PabloPicasso and TheArtStory were the sources that helped us the most in creating this article.
Now, without further ado, let’s discover those Cubist painting that caught the most attention, starting with our number 10.
10. Bottle and Fishes (1910-1912)
Georges Braque loved to paint both bottles and fishes and this painting that belongs to the Analytical Cubism period, contains both of these objects; it is one of his most significant paintings.
9. Portrait of Picasso (1912)
Portrait of Picasso established Juan Gris as respected Cubist after his first exhibition at 1912 Salon des Indépendants. Gris immediately distinguished himself from the Picasso’s and Braque’s style with more systematic geometry and crystalline structure.
8. Violin and Palette (1909)
Being a departure from Fauvism, with its darker palette, and fragmented objects meshed into background, Violin and Palette was one of the most valuable works for Georges Braque and for the formation of the Cubism.
7. Ma Jolie (1911-1912)
Up next on our list of most famous Cubist paintings is Ma Jolie which was Picasso’s nickname for his lover, and also the refrain of a popular song at that time. With a poster-like written words alluding to a popular song, this painting represents the first usage of elements of popular culture, in the work of high art.
6. Still Life Before an Open Window – Place Ravignan (1915)
Painted by “the third Cubist” Juan Gris, Still Life before an Open Window is considered one of his best works. Gris experimented with collage and perspective and further perfected his own style of Cubism. The painting belongs to the period of Synthetic Cubism.
5. The Three Musicians (1921)
If Google Trends was to be an accurate measure of popularity, then one of the two paintings (named The Three Musicians) by the Picasso, created in 1921, is the second best known Picasso’s painting. Picasso is so powerful and mesmerizing that he can get the two paintings, into one spot on our top ten famous cubist paintings. No matter which version you prefer, the painting is the true cubist masterpiece.
4. Le Goûter (Tea Time) (1911)
“When this painting was first shown at the 1911 Salon d’Automne in Paris, the prominent art critic André Salmon dubbed it The Mona Lisa of Cubism.” If you had noticed that we didn’t mention Jean Metzinger before, and felt that leaving him out of the list, and not even mentioning him was wrong, considering that in the beginnings of Cubism, he was actually more famous Cubist than the Picasso and Braque, well we tricked you – Tea Time gets it’s well-deserved place on the list of 10 Most Famous Cubist Paintings.
3. Les Demoiselles d’Avignon (1907)
Shocking and deemed immoral at the time, Les Demoiselles d’Avignon is effectively the fire-starter of Cubism and the extinguisher of the period of Fauvism. In this Proto-Cubist work Picasso abandoned perspective, used two-dimensional picture plane broken up into geometric shards. This Picasso’s painting was a great inspiration for Georges Braque, which led to their collaboration, and formation of the Cubism.
2. Houses at l’Estaque (1908)
Houses at l’Estaque is a landscape painted by the Georges Braque and is often considered one of the first Cubist paintings, although some art historians consider it a Proto-Cubist painting. An influential French art critic, Louis Vauxcelles, in his review of the Braque’s exhibition, which included the Houses at l’Estaque, said that “Braque is a daring man who despises form, reducing everything, places and figures and houses, to geometric schemas, to cubes”. Pointing out cubes, this review hinted how should the at the time new forming style/movement later be called. This painting was definitely one the most important steps in forming the movement and is therefore rightfully on our list.
1. Guernica (1937)
Guernica is without a shadow of a doubt the most famous Picasso’s painting, and even though it belongs to his surrealist period, it is still infused with his recognizable cubist style, and because of it, it deserves to be ranked as number one on our list of 10 most famous Cubist paintings.
