How to Identify a Cubist Painting

Cubism is a movement in both art and architecture that became very popular in Europe during the early part of the 20th century. Picasso and Braque popularized the movement when it was just beginning, but as the movement grew many other artists joined them. The Cubist movement was very short-lived; but it had a profound impact on many artists in the decades that followed. Read on to learn more.

Instructions

1. Look for pronounced geometric shapes. Cubism actually has much in common with its name. Most cubic pieces have shapes (often squares or cones) as an underlying aspect of its design.

2. Get a sense of the artwork's depth. Cubist art often has a very shallow sense of depth. In other words, the image almost seems to be two dimensional.

3. Check the areas where the image seems disjointed. In many cases, a cubist piece will have areas that look radically out of place, but on closer examination it will simply be an area where the image is rendered from a different point of view.

4. Examine the use of color in the painting. Cubist paintings are often monochromatic; they use one basic color for the entire piece and then highlight areas using shadowing and variations of the base color.