What art movement, begun in the early 20th century, features fragmented and abstract forms, pioneered by Picasso and Braque?

The art movement that emerged in the early 20th century, characterized by fragmented and abstract forms and pioneered by Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque, is known as Cubism. This revolutionary style challenged centuries of Western art traditions by rejecting the single viewpoint that had dominated painting since the Renaissance. Instead, Cubist artists sought to depict subjects from multiple perspectives simultaneously, breaking down objects and figures into geometric shapes and reassembling them in a flattened, two-dimensional space.

Picasso and Braque developed Cubism in Paris between 1907 and 1914, working closely together to explore new ways of representing reality. Their innovations were partly inspired by the later works of Paul Cézanne, who emphasized the underlying geometric structure of nature, and by the stylized forms found in African and Iberian art. The term "Cubism" itself was coined by art critic Louis Vauxcelles, who, upon seeing Braque's landscapes in 1908, derisively described them as being composed of "cubes."

Cubism evolved through distinct phases, notably Analytic Cubism (around 1908-1912), where objects were systematically dissected into intricate, often monochromatic facets, and Synthetic Cubism (around 1912-1914), which introduced simpler shapes, brighter colors, and the integration of collage elements like newspaper or patterned paper. This groundbreaking movement not only transformed painting but also had a profound and lasting influence on sculpture, architecture, and other artistic disciplines, paving the way for many subsequent avant-garde styles of the 20th century.