Guernica
Cubism We see a rectangular table in perspective ― that is, as a trapezium; our side of the table looks more important than the other side. But we know the table to be a pure rectangle. The camera sees only one side of our face, but we know it to be in profile and en face at the same time. Picasso and Braque quit visual reality and start to paint the environing objects as they know they are. The table top becomes a rectangle again, and the human face is rendered from the side and front again. This decisive act we call Cubism. About 1500 the artists of the Renaissance invented the perspective we are still accustomed to : the artist sat down on his chair, looked at the scene from one definite angle, and tried to fix it to his panel accordingly. Now after four hundred years the painter rises from his chair, starts moving around his object, and tries to render the totality. He changes his point of view [or to points of view]. (WJHB Sandberg, 1960, 'Picasso's Guernica ', Dædal...