There is a logical answer as well as psychological reasoning. In the mid to late 19th century the camera was invented, although it was not widely available to the public, this exciting technology was getting a-lot of attention. We all know the old saying that ‘a picture is worth a thousand words’ and back then it was widely believed that ‘a picture tells no lies’.

Painters started to question whether their skills were needed to paint or record the world around them now that the camera could do the job just as well. The most famous 20th century artist, Pablo Picasso, was one of the leaders in questioning how he saw the fast moving world around us - especially with the advent of new technologies like the still and moving picture camera. Picasso painted objects and people from different angles onto a single canvas. The resulting work, done around 1910, was called cubism and is the beginning of Artists abstracting ‘reality’ in order to try to make sense of, how we look at, or perceive, people, places or things.

Picasso said ‘When we discovered Cubism, we did not have the aim of discovering Cubism. We only wanted to express what was in us.’

The amazing thing is that today we might think that the technique Picasso developed over 100 years ago might have been done today using a program designed to manipulate digital images. Check out Picasso’s Portrait of Ambrose Vollard painted in 1910, or google cubism, do you agree. ...?