Passage: Cubism, pioneered by Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque, revolutionized the way space and time are represented in painting. By breaking objects into geometric fragments and showing them from multiple viewpoints simultaneously, Cubists rejected the tradition of single-point perspective that had dominated Western art since the Renaissance. This was not just a formal experiment; it was a way of capturing the complexity of the modern world, where the observer is constantly in motion. In a Cubist work, the subject is not a static object viewed from a distance, but a multifaceted experience that unfolds over time. Critics often found these works illegible and chaotic. Proponents, however, argued that Cubism was more 'realistic' than traditional art because it reflected the fragmented nature of perception itself. This radical approach laid the foundation for nearly all subsequent developments in abstract art.