Georges Braque

Georges Braque was a French painter who, together with Picasso, invented Cubism, one of the most important movements in modern art. Born in 1882, he trained as a house painter and decorator, a background that gave him a lifelong feel for materials and surfaces. Working closely with Picasso in the years before the First World War, he helped break objects into fragmented, overlapping planes.

He pioneered the use of collage, pasting paper and other materials into his pictures, and he explored the quiet beauty of still life throughout his career. Wounded in the war, he later developed a calmer, more harmonious style all his own. Braque's inventive, thoughtful work makes him one of the founding figures of modern painting.