Les Pains (Loaves of Bread)

It's through a series of still-life paintings that Picasso first experiments with the use of geometric form and fragmentation that would lead to Cubism.

One of these depicts, against a white tablecloth backdrop, a bottle, four pears and some bread.

In a rejection of the illusion of perspective, the painter gives the objects in the background the same treatment, with the fine brushstrokes creating an effect that's somewhere between breaking the continuity of the surfaces and an expression of volume.

The work is held together by the play of colors and the central positioning of the baguette and the bread crown, which seems to pull the other elements of the painting into a big spiral movement.