Cubism was one of the most important periods in Picasso's artistic career. Picasso and the French artist, George Braque, painted many landscapes using this style. Together they created the first ideas of cubism. Picasso painted in this style from 1908 to 1914.
Cubism is used to describe paintings that look like they are made entirely out of little broken cubes. He broke up the compositions into geometric shapes. This showed the subject from more than one angle. It also represents the subjects in a series of flat planes, as well as showing all sides of an object at the same time. Browns, greens, grays and tans are the colors most often used in analytic cubism. These types of painting show mystery and timelessness.
A later style of cubism was called "synthetic". Synthetic cubism gave artists more freedom of choice in color and form. Artists that created synthetic cubist paintings kept the original shape of an object taking away the details. These paintings were generally abstract.
One of the earliest and most important paintings by Picasso was Les Demoiselles D, Avignon painted in 1907. Throughout Picasso's career he often returned to painting in the cubist style.
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