We see this very clearly in his 1910 work Still Life with Playing Cards. This painting is executed with oils on canvas, and it is one of the most recognisable Cubist pieces of artwork to this day.
This is not the only painting that Braque created depicting playing cards. Around the same period he also created 'Candlestick with Playing Cards on a Table', for example.
This work is more purely abstract and mysterious than Still Life with Playing Cards. Still Life with Playing Cards shows the viewer some recognisable, almost realistic objects, whilst also blending these with abstract, geometric elements.
As its name suggests, Still Life with Playing Cards is a fresh new look at the traditional still life genre of painting.
In this painting, what may be a human figure holds two playing cards: the ace of hearts and the ace of clubs.
Lettering and the sweeping black charcoal lines that are so characteristic of many of Braque's works (such as Fruit Dish and Glass) lend an air of abstraction and almost playfulness to the scene as traditional forms are disrupted and questioned.
One other thing to note about Still Life with Playing Cards is the fact that Braque was fascinated by the potential of cards and paper for creating art.
He even created his own form of collage (known as papier colle) which he debuted in the first decade of the twentieth century with the work Fruit Dish and Glass.
Perhaps, then, the fact that Braque has chosen to depict paper objects (playing cards) in Still Life with Playing Cards is no accident at all.
