Cubist Lookbook | History of Modern Art
Cubism: Deconstructing Reality and the Birth of a Modern Visual Language
Cubism is without doubt one of the most influential movements in the history of modern art. Emerging in the early years of the 20th century, it revolutionised our way of seeing, understanding, and representing the world. Based on a rejection of traditional perspective and an exploration of geometric forms, Cubism introduced a bold, abstract new visual language that would profoundly impact not only painting, but also architecture, design, fashion, and even contemporary tapestry. It unfolded in several phases, each contributing its own nuance to this artistic revolution.
The Main Currents of Cubism
Pre-Cubism, sometimes referred to as Proto-Cubism, represents a transitional phase towards Cubism. It was a period of exploration, during which artists began to simplify forms and reduce them to essential geometric structures. One of the great pioneers of this period was Paul Cézanne. In works such as Montagne Sainte-Victoire or The Large Bathers, Cézanne sought to represent nature using basic volumes: the cone, the cylinder, and the sphere. He deconstructed reality to reveal its underlying structures. This approach deeply influenced the young artists of the early 20th century, notably Pablo Picasso. It was Picasso who, in 1907, created a groundbreaking work with Les Demoiselles d’Avignon. In this radical painting, the female figures are rendered in an angular, almost brutal manner, inspired both by African art and Cézanne’s geometric aesthetic. This masterpiece marks the official beginning of the Cubist adventure.
The first phase of true Cubism is known as Analytical Cubism. Between 1909 and 1912, Picasso and Georges Braque methodically deconstructed forms. Objects were broken down into fragments, split into multiple facets. The colour palette became muted, dominated by browns, greys, and greens, so as not to distract from the formal analysis. The artists aimed to represent objects from multiple viewpoints simultaneously. It was no longer about mimicking reality but about understanding it, examining its complexity. In this vein, Picasso produced Portrait of Ambroise Vollard, while Braque created La Femme à la Mandoline and Le Portugais, a work in which a man, a guitar, and a space merge into an interlacing of planes. This form of Cubism was cerebral, almost scientific, and required effort from the viewer to be fully deciphered.
From 1912, this complexity reached its limits. Cubism then evolved into a second phase: Synthetic Cubism. Artists began to simplify forms, reconstructing objects from cut-out and recomposed elements. This is when the first collage experiments emerged. Picasso glued pieces of newspaper onto his canvases, as in Still Life with Chair Caning. Braque introduced letters, bits of wallpaper, and wood-effect paper. This new Cubism was more colourful, more direct, more legible. It paved the way for a fresh, more decorative aesthetic that would have a lasting influence on the applied arts.
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In parallel, another Cubist current appeared, known as Orphic Cubism. Coined by the poet Guillaume Apollinaire, this term refers to a luminous, colourful, rhythmic Cubism, almost musical in nature. It gradually moved away from figuration to explore the expressive powers of pure colour and movement. Robert Delaunay was one of its main representatives. With works such as Circular Forms, Soleil n°2, he created a vibrant universe built on coloured circles that evoke the dynamism of light. His partner, Sonia Delaunay, pursued similar research across diverse fields: painting, textiles, furniture, typography. Her work Prismes électriques perfectly illustrates this ambition to create a total art – both visual and sensory. Orphic Cubism thus acts as a bridge between abstraction, design, and lifestyle.
Women in Cubism: Pioneering and Forgotten Artists
Long centred around a few major male figures, the history of Cubism has gradually come to include the women artists who played a vital role in the movement. Among them, Sonia Delaunay holds a unique place. Born in Ukraine and trained in Saint Petersburg before moving to Paris, she developed a distinctive style based on the simultaneity of colours, closely linked to scientific advances in visual perception. She was also the first living female artist to be honoured with a retrospective at the Louvre. Her work went beyond painting: she designed clothing, textiles, sets, and applied Cubist principles to every aspect of daily life.
Another important Cubist woman was Alice Bailly, a Swiss artist trained in Geneva and influenced first by the Fauves and later by Cubism. She developed a highly personal technique she called “wool paintings”, in which she replaced paint with embroidered coloured threads. This experimental approach reflected a desire to explore new materials while asserting a form of femininity in a male-dominated artistic world. Her works, such as Dancers, convey a vivid energy and constant movement.
Liubov Popova, a major figure in Russian Cubo-Futurism (a Russian offshoot of Cubism influenced by Italian Futurism), was trained in Paris. She fused Cubist fragmentation with the mechanical dynamism of Futurism. Popova was also a significant theorist and educator, envisioning an art directed towards society, movement, and collective production.
Her compatriot Olga Rozanova, also associated with Cubo-Futurism, developed a radical, abstract, and vibrant style in which geometric forms and colours confront each other in expressive tension. Rozanova pushed abstraction to its limits, anticipating the Suprematist research of Malevich. Today, she is recognised as a key figure of the Russian avant-garde, on par with the leading male names of her time.
Finally, to understand how deeply Cubism continues to inspire contemporary creators, one need look no further than our Maison’s Milan rug. A true work of art for the floor, this rug translates the founding principles of Cubism into the language of textiles. It is composed of repeated tiles in contrasting shades of white, black, and brown, creating a rhythmic, balanced, and visually captivating composition.
Each square acts as a facet – a visual cell that, once assembled, gives rise to a dynamic, structured whole. The Milan rug thus evokes Braque and Picasso’s exploration of fragmentation, as well as the Delaunays’ fascination with colour contrasts and formal vitality. It fits into a tradition where interior design converses with art history, where everyday objects become vehicles for aesthetic emotion. In this sense, the Milan rug perfectly embodies the spirit of Norki: creating beauty that is functional and contemporary, while drawing upon the greatest artistic references of the 20th century.
Through Cubism, our perspective on the world changed. It is no longer about representing what we see, but what we know, what we feel, and what we imagine. And this lesson still holds true today – in our interiors, in the objects we choose to live with and contemplate. The Milan rug is not just a decorative accessory; it is a tribute to the avant-garde, to modernity, and to living art.
