Pablo Picasso (1881–1973) comes to Paris for the first time in 1900, and the city will soon become his adopted home. Max Beckmann (1884–1950) travels to the French capital for the first time in 1903. He lives and works there regularly between 1926 and 1932. Picasso and Beckmann know of one another, probably without ever meeting in person. Both paint representationally all their lives, and put the human being at the centre of their art.
In 1907 Picasso gets to know Georges Braque (1882–1963) in Paris. Together with other painters they develop the style of cubism, thus fundamentally changing how people see and understand the world. The sculptors Henri Laurens (1885–1954) and Jacques Lipchitz (1891–1973) are also influenced by cubism. They transfer the new language of geometric forms from painting to sculpture.
