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From a lowly apprentice decorator
in Le Havre, France,
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to a revolutionary pioneer of Cubism
alongside Pablo Picasso,
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Georges Braque's life was filled
with triumph and tragedy.
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But behind the genius of his work
lies a complex and intriguing figure.
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Are you ready to delve
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into his captivating story
and enduring legacy?
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Join me as I explore the life
and creative vision of Georges Braque.
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Georges Braque was born on 13th May, 1882,
in Argenteuil, near Paris, France,
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to parents Charles and Augustine.
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His father who was an amateur painter
and his grandfather before him,
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managed a house decorating business,
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which is no doubt
where Braque's interest in texture
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and the tactile effects
of paint came from.
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In 1890, the family moved to Le Havre,
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where Braque attended
the local public school,
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and often accompanied his father
on painting expeditions.
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He developed an interest in sports,
especially boxing,
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and also learned to play the flute.
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At the age of 15, Braque enrolled
in an evening art course
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at the École des Beaux-Arts in Le Havre,
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where he studied painting
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and learned traditional
painting techniques.
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In 1899, at the age of seventeen,
he moved from Le Havre to Paris,
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accompanied by friends
and fellow art students
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Othon Friesz and Raoul Dufy.
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In Paris he completed his apprenticeship
as a decorator
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and was awarded his certificate
of competence in 1902.
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Between 1902 and 1904,
with funding from his parents,
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he attended the Académie Humbert.
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Together with his fellow artist
Francis Picabia
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he developed an interest in Impressionism,
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particularly the work of Alfred Sisley.
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But in 1905, he visited
the Salon d’Automne in Paris
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and saw the violent explosion
of arbitrary colour
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in the room occupied by the paintings
of Henri Matisse, André Derain
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and others of the group nicknamed
Les Fauves, the Wild Beasts.
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As a consequence, Braque, and friends
Raoul Dufy and Othon Friesz,
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began to move away
from Impressionist ideas
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and adopted the bold colour schemes
and compositional structures
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they had seen in Matisse’s paintings.
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Although, there’s was a slightly
more subdued version of the Fauvist style.
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In May 1906, Braque successfully
exhibited his Fauve works
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in the Salon des Indépendants.
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But his work was beginning to change as he came under the strong influence of Paul Cézanne.
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Later in 1906, Braque travelled with Friesz to paint in Antwerp in Belgium, and to the
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French Mediterranean coast near Marseille.
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In 1907, Braque was introduced by Guillaume Apollinaire, the French poet and writer, to
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Pablo Picasso who invited him to visit his studio.
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Braque was profoundly affected by the visit, especially when he saw Picasso's innovative
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work - Les Demoiselles d'Avignon.
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It soon became clear there was an immediate affinity between the two artists and an intimate
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friendship and artistic camaraderie soon followed.
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They collaborated closely, exchanging ideas almost daily and frequently commenting on
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each other’s work.
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It is impossible to say which of the two was the principal inventor of the new revolutionary
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style of painting which later became known as Cubism.
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It was Picasso who provided, with his Les Demoiselles d'Avignon painting, the first
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liberating shock.
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But it was Braque, largely because of his admiration for Cézanne, who provided much
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of the early tendency toward geometric forms.
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Between them they developed the ideas that drove the development of this new artistic
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style.
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While their paintings shared many similarities at this time, in terms of their colour palette,
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style, and subject matter, Braque stated that unlike Picasso, his work was "devoid of iconological
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commentary" and was concerned purely with pictorial space and composition.
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In May 1908, Braque and Picasso exhibited their Cubist paintings for the first time
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at the Salon des Indépendants in Paris.
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Their work received mixed reviews from critics and was denounced by some because they had
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challenged conventional forms of representation, such as the use of perspective, which had
