Collage is both an art technique and a name for the resulting work of art in which pieces of paper, photographs, fabric, and other ephemera are arranged and stuck to a supporting background. The arranged images are often cut, torn, or otherwise taken from ready-made materials like magazine pages, newspapers, or book but can also be sections of colored or painted paper or fabric. While a common technique for decorators and hobbyists alike for decades, Cubists George Braque and Pablo Picasso incorporated bits of newspaper and wallpaper into their paintings, bringing the technique into the fine-art world. Collage later became a dominant technique in the Dada, Surrealist, Pop Art, and New-Dada art movements. Since collage often incorporates mass-produced images, it can easily become a mode of powerful social commentary.

Explore collage in the collection