Comparing two Modernist painter

One of the most well-known modern art movements is Cubism which was co-founded by the 20th-century French painter, collagist, draughtsman, printmaker and sculptor.

Georges Braque's The Viaduct at L'Estaque (1907) is an early painting that marks his shift towards Cubism that burst onto the scene in 1907-1908. This is a style he later developed with Pablo Picasso. The painting shows a scene in L'Estaque, a village in southern France, with a viaduct, which is the bridge with arches underneath, houses, and trees.

What makes this painting special is how Braque breaks away from realistic details. Instead of painting things exactly as they look, he simplifies them into geometric shapes, like cubes and rectangles. The colours are earthy and work harmoniously together, with greens, browns, and yellows, giving the painting a feel of a warm, calm summer's day. The cool blue tones create depth to the painting, like he has done with the buildings in the horizon.

It’s like Braque is rethinking how to show a landscape, focusing on abstracting using shape and structure rather than trying to make it look like a realistic photograph. This style set the stage for the Cubist movement, which changed how people thought about art.

Georges Braque- The Viaduct at L'Estaque 1907

Henri Matisse (1869–1954) was a famous French artist known for his brilliant use of colour and unique drawing style. He worked in many forms, including painting, draughtsman, printmaking, and sculpture, but he is best known as a painter.

Matisse is considered one of the most important modern artists, alongside Pablo Picasso. In the early 1900s, his bold and colourful paintings earned him the nickname "wild beast" (Fauve) for his intense and daring style. After 1906, he developed a more structured approach, focusing on simple shapes and decorative patterns. 

Henri Matisse's The Little Gate of the Old Mill (1898) is one of his earlier works, created before he became known for his bold, colourful Fauvist style. In this painting, he captures a quiet scene of an old mill with a gate, surrounded by greenery and a soft, natural atmosphere.

Matisse has used a range of techniques painting with quick, lively, expressive brushstrokes, showing how he was inspired by Neo-Impressionism to capture the changing light and mood of the scene. The painting has a calm, almost dreamy quality. He has used a wide mix of earthy and flesh tones like greens, browns, pinks, and grey-blues, and even though his brushstrokes are in a quick diagonal angle, there is still enough detail to make the scene recognisable. I feel as though Matisse has created movement as though I am walking towards the pathway. I think this work shows his interest in traditional landscape painting, where he focuses on light, shadow, and texture. 

Henri Matisse- The Little Gate of the Old Mill 1898

Comparing the work of the two French men, Braque and Matisse, I believe Braque’s painting is more about experimenting with shapes and structure in this Cubist style, while Matisse’s is about capturing the feeling of the scene with light and bursts of colour in the Fauvism style. I believe both artists were exploring new ideas, but in very different ways.