Apples on a Black Base

A co-founder of Cubism, Georges Braque initially worked in a Fauvist style under the influence of Henri Matisse before embracing the style of Matisse’s great rival, Picasso. Born in 1882 in France, Braque moved to Paris at age seventeen where he found work as a decorative painter, a skill he had learned from his father. By 1904 he was able to establish his own studio and pursue painting full-time, and he exhibited several Fauvist canvases in his first exhibition at the Salon des Indépendants of 1906. A year later, however, he had a transformational experience visiting the studio of Pablo Picasso, where he saw the seminal 1907 painting Les Demoiselles d’Avignon, now in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art, New York. From that point forward, Braque abandoned Fauvism, and established a close friendship with Picasso. It was also at this time that he began experimenting with other mediums, such as collage, drawing, and, later, sculpture.

Argenteuil-sur-Seine, France