Georges braque collage

During the inter-war years, Braque established himself as France's leading painter, the inheritor of the national virtues and depository of the classical tradition, which he later defined in his Cahier de Georges Braque: 1917-1947. Along with this Neoclassicism went the group of works inspired by the art and culture of ancient Greece: the etchings for Hesiod's Theogons (1931), the four remarkable engraved plaster casts (platres graves) on mythological themes, also made in 1931 (Herakles, Aime Maeght Collection, Paris), and most of the sculptures.

In fact, Braque's art after 1920 is notable for its stylistic coherence, most of his output consisting either of relatively small works, or of large, more ambitious works, often elaborated over a long period. There is no evolution in the true sense but rather a succcession of new themes linked each time with a new method of expressing relationships between line and volume, form and colour. His series of Gueridons (table-top still lifes) and the sombre, richly textured still lifes of 1918-20, which often feature a bunch of grapes juxtaposed with a musical instrument (Still Life with Guitar, 1919, private collection, St Louis), were followed by paintings of fireplaces and marble tables (Still life with Marble Table, 1925, Musee National d'Art Moderne, Paris) in greens, browns and blacks, which are mainly concerned with expressing volumes. Fruits and fabrics in the still lifes combine into rounded forms that are almost Baroque in their curving line.

After 1928, Braque's colours tend to become lighter and, in general, his pictures have a more fluid and less sensual feel (Blue Mandolin, 1930, City Art Gallery, St Louis). Their free and floating line has strong echoes of Picasso's curvilinear Cubism of 1923-4 (Still Life with Pipe, Kunstmuseum, Basel). The two tendencies joined together just before the war in great, brightly coloured ornamental paintings, full of imagination and animation (Still life with Mandolin, 1938, private collection, Chicago). At the same time human figures start to reappear. Portrayed from two aspects, full face and in profile, corresponding to a shadowy and a lit side, they resemble the earlier works of Picasso (The painter and his model, 1939, private collection, New York).

The 'Ateliers' and Other Late Works (1942-62)

The advent of war stimulated the creation of more serious works, reflecting the austerity of the times (The Kitchen Table, 1942, Musee National d'Art Moderne, Paris). After 1947, Braque's output was frequently interrupted by illness, but between 1949 and 1956 he completed his series of Ateliers (Studios): eight canvases that try to sum up the themes and experiments of his past work (Atelier VI, 1950-1, Maeght Foundation, St Paul-de-Vence). The bird motif that appears in some of these paintings reappears as the theme of the decoration that Braque carried out (1952-3) for the Etruscan Hall in the Louvre. It appears to symbolize his need, towards the end of his life, to escape from the enclosed world of all his other painting.

He also executed cartoons for stained glass in the Chapel of St Dominique at Varengeville and for the Chapel of St Bernard at the Maeght Foundation in St Paul-de-Vence.

Reputation and Legacy

Regarded today as a giant of modern art, Braque's fame rests essentially on his contribution to Cubism - the most important of all modern art movements - which went on to influence numerous other movements including German Expressionism (before 1914), Futurism (1909-14), Delaunay's Orphism (1910-13), Larionov's Rayonism (1912-14), the short-lived Vorticism (1914-15), and De Stijl (1917-31), to name but six. In addition, as a testament to his genius, Georges Braque became the first living artist to have his works exhibited in the Louvre in 1961.

Collections

As befits one of the great 20th century painters, Braque's works hang in the best art museums in Europe and the United States, including the Museum of Modern Art, New York, the French National Museum of Modern Art at the Pompidou Centre, Paris, the Kunstmuseum in Berne, and the Moderna Museet, Stockholm, as well as in most major galleries around the world.

For a list of the highest prices paid for works of art by famous painters: please see: Top 10 Most Expensive Paintings.