born May 13, 1882, Argenteuil, France
died Aug. 31, 1963, Paris
French painter.
He studied painting in Le Havre, then in Paris at a private academy and briefly at the École des Beaux-Arts. Though his earliest works were influenced by Impressionism, his first important paintings (190507) were in the style of Fauvism pioneered by André Derain and Henri Matisse ; in 1907 he exhibited and sold six of these paintings at the Salon des Indépendants . Abandoning Fauvism in 1907, he invented with Pablo Picasso the revolutionary new style known as Cubism . He painted mostly still lifes featuring geometric shapes and low-key colour harmonies. In 1912 he introduced the collage, or papier collé (pasted-paper picture), by attaching three pieces of wallpaper to the drawing Fruit Dish and Glass . By the 1920s he was a prosperous, well-established modern master. In 1923 and 1925 he designed stage sets for Sergey Diaghilev 's Ballets Russes. He enjoyed a long and prestigious career; in his later years he was honoured with important exhibitions throughout the world. In 1961 he became the first living artist to have his works exhibited in the Louvre.