How did Georges Braque use geometric forms in his early Cubist landscapes?

In his early Cubist landscapes, Georges Braque utilized geometric forms by drawing significant inspiration from the work of Paul Cézanne. Emulating Cézanne’s approach, Braque reduced natural elements—such as the volumes of houses and the shapes of trees—into simplified, geometric, and often cylindrical forms.12

In celebrated works like Houses at L’Estaque (1908), Braque employed colourful tilted planes and slab volumes to construct his compositions. These techniques moved beyond traditional representation, as he abstracted the landscape through a reduction of form and a deliberate warping of perspective. This early experimentation with geometric structure was foundational to the development of Analytical Cubism, where Braque and Pablo Picasso further broke down objects into overlapping, fragmented planes to emphasize the structure of form itself rather than the imitation of nature.12