Juan GRIS (1887-1927)
Except otherwise stated, all results include the premium.
See also : Tabletop Music and dance
Chronology : 1913 1914 1915 1916
See also : Tabletop Music and dance
Chronology : 1913 1914 1915 1916
Intro
Juan Gris (born José Victoriano González-Pérez, 1887–1927) was a Spanish painter who became one of the most distinctive and theoretically rigorous figures in Synthetic Cubism. Often called the "third Cubist" alongside Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque, Gris arrived in Paris in 1906, settled at the Bateau-Lavoir, and began seriously engaging with Cubism around 1910–1911. He initially worked in the Analytic Cubism style (which he himself later named), producing fragmented, near-monochromatic works. By 1913–1914, he fully transitioned to Synthetic Cubism, developing a personal, mature version that emphasized clarity, order, and construction over the deconstructive fragmentation of Analytic phase.
Gris's approach differed markedly from Picasso and Braque's more intuitive, spontaneous methods. He was more theoretical and systematic: he started with a clear conceptual plan for the composition, building it up from simpler elements to achieve harmonious, almost classical balance. His works are characterized by rigorously geometric compositions, sharp-edged planes, and maximum clarity in articulating fragmented objects. Unlike the muted palettes of Analytic Cubism, Gris embraced bright, harmonious colors in daring combinations—influenced by his friend Henri Matisse—creating vibrant, decorative surfaces that emphasized the flatness of the canvas while suggesting spatial depth through color relationships and overlapping forms.
Key Characteristics of Gris's Synthetic Cubism
Evolution and Key Works
Gris began experimenting with collage in 1913 under Picasso and Braque's influence, contributing to Synthetic Cubism's emphasis on flatness and materiality. His mature style crystallized around 1914–1915 and evolved toward greater lyricism in the 1920s.Here are iconic examples:
(The Open Window, 1921 – a late, luminous work showing Gris's refined Synthetic style with bold color planes, geometric clarity, and a sense of harmonious architecture in the composition.)
(Le Canigou, 1921 – another late masterpiece with vibrant, structured forms and a poetic, almost architectural quality.)
(An example of a classic Gris still life with checked tablecloth and objects is demonstrating his use of pattern, color, and precise geometry in Synthetic Cubism.)
Gris also produced notable collages like Breakfast (1914), where he playfully altered newspaper headlines with his name, highlighting tensions between reality and representation.
Legacy
Gris's lucid, intellectual take on Synthetic Cubism helped systematize and popularize the style, making Cubist ideas more accessible and comprehensible. His emphasis on precision influenced later movements like Purism and even aspects of abstraction. Despite his early death from kidney failure at age 40 in 1927, critics like Gertrude Stein hailed him as "a perfect painter," and his work continues to exemplify the constructive, harmonious side of Cubism.
Gris's approach differed markedly from Picasso and Braque's more intuitive, spontaneous methods. He was more theoretical and systematic: he started with a clear conceptual plan for the composition, building it up from simpler elements to achieve harmonious, almost classical balance. His works are characterized by rigorously geometric compositions, sharp-edged planes, and maximum clarity in articulating fragmented objects. Unlike the muted palettes of Analytic Cubism, Gris embraced bright, harmonious colors in daring combinations—influenced by his friend Henri Matisse—creating vibrant, decorative surfaces that emphasized the flatness of the canvas while suggesting spatial depth through color relationships and overlapping forms.
Key Characteristics of Gris's Synthetic Cubism
- Clarity and Precision — Forms are sharply defined and logically arranged; he avoided the ambiguity of Analytic fragmentation.
- Bright, Bold Color — Reintroduction of vivid hues (blues, reds, yellows, greens) to structure space and add emotional resonance.
- Collage and Papier Collé — Extensive use of pasted paper, newspaper, wallpaper, and other materials to integrate real textures and challenge representation (e.g., printed patterns standing for wood grain or fabric).
- Geometric Rigor and Order — Mathematical-like compositions with interlocking planes, emphasizing harmony and balance.
- Synthesis Over Analysis — Building images from parts (shapes, colors, materials) to evoke the whole, often with playful illusions and puns on reality vs. artifice.
- Still Life Dominance — Everyday objects (bottles, glasses, newspapers, fruit, tables) rendered with intellectual clarity.
Evolution and Key Works
Gris began experimenting with collage in 1913 under Picasso and Braque's influence, contributing to Synthetic Cubism's emphasis on flatness and materiality. His mature style crystallized around 1914–1915 and evolved toward greater lyricism in the 1920s.Here are iconic examples:
(The Open Window, 1921 – a late, luminous work showing Gris's refined Synthetic style with bold color planes, geometric clarity, and a sense of harmonious architecture in the composition.)
(Le Canigou, 1921 – another late masterpiece with vibrant, structured forms and a poetic, almost architectural quality.)
(An example of a classic Gris still life with checked tablecloth and objects is demonstrating his use of pattern, color, and precise geometry in Synthetic Cubism.)
Gris also produced notable collages like Breakfast (1914), where he playfully altered newspaper headlines with his name, highlighting tensions between reality and representation.
Legacy
Gris's lucid, intellectual take on Synthetic Cubism helped systematize and popularize the style, making Cubist ideas more accessible and comprehensible. His emphasis on precision influenced later movements like Purism and even aspects of abstraction. Despite his early death from kidney failure at age 40 in 1927, critics like Gertrude Stein hailed him as "a perfect painter," and his work continues to exemplify the constructive, harmonious side of Cubism.
Informal Psychological Evaluation Based on the Life and Art of Juan Gris
Biographical Context and Life Experiences
Juan Gris (born José Victoriano González-Pérez) was a Spanish painter who relocated to Paris in 1906, living in poverty initially as a satirical illustrator before dedicating himself to painting around 1910. He became a key figure in Cubism, admired by peers like Picasso (whom he viewed as a mentor) and Gertrude Stein, who described him posthumously as a "perfect painter."
Artistic Style and Psychological Interpretation
Gris's mature work (especially Synthetic Cubism from 1913 onward) is characterized by:
Key Works as Visual Context
Gris's paintings often feature controlled, harmonious still lifes:These exemplify his pursuit of clarity, balance, and intellectual synthesis.
Summary Assessment
Juan Gris appears to have been a highly disciplined, intellectual individual with a structured personality, thriving on order amid personal adversity. Transient low mood linked to physical suffering and external events is noted, but no indications of chronic mental illness. His art reflects resilience through rational control and aesthetic harmony, portraying a mind seeking perfection in an imperfect life. This "evaluation" highlights traits of meticulousness and introversion rather than pathology.
Biographical Context and Life Experiences
Juan Gris (born José Victoriano González-Pérez) was a Spanish painter who relocated to Paris in 1906, living in poverty initially as a satirical illustrator before dedicating himself to painting around 1910. He became a key figure in Cubism, admired by peers like Picasso (whom he viewed as a mentor) and Gertrude Stein, who described him posthumously as a "perfect painter."
- Early Life: Born into a large family (13th of 14 children), he studied mechanical drawing and engineering briefly, suggesting an early affinity for precision and structure.
- Exile and Isolation: Leaving Spain without completing military service made him a fugitive, preventing return home and creating a sense of permanent displacement.
- Health Issues: Chronic asthma prompted a move to suburban Paris in 1922 for cleaner air. From 1920 onward, he suffered severe illnesses including pleurisy, uremia, cardiac problems, and ultimately renal failure, leading to his death at age 40. During World War I, financial strain and news of the war reportedly left him feeling "depressed and terrified," describing his life as "flat, undecided and sterile."
- Personality Impressions from Contemporaries: Described as shy and retiring compared to the more flamboyant Picasso. Gertrude Stein noted Picasso's discomfort with Gris, possibly due to his talent or demeanor. Gris was theoretical and intellectual, systematizing Cubism's principles.
Artistic Style and Psychological Interpretation
Gris's mature work (especially Synthetic Cubism from 1913 onward) is characterized by:
- Order and Harmony: Lucid, structured compositions with geometric planes, bright harmonious colors, and a classical severity—contrasting Picasso and Braque's more spontaneous, monochromatic Analytic Cubism.
- Intellectual Approach: Gris was more theoretical, starting from abstract concepts to create concrete forms (e.g., "I try to make concrete that which is abstract"). His works often feature everyday objects (bottles, guitars, newspapers, fruit) in still lifes, rearranged with mathematical precision and grid-like structures.
- Control and Synthesis: Emphasis on flatness, collage (papier collé), and visual "games" that mimic reality while flaunting artifice, creating balanced, pleasing compositions.
- Personality Traits: High conscientiousness, perfectionism, and analytical thinking. His background in mechanical drawing and self-described methodical process suggest a preference for logic, planning, and intellectual control—possibly indicative of introverted, thinking-oriented traits (e.g., akin to INTJ or similar in modern typology frameworks, though speculative).
- Coping Mechanisms: The ordered fragmentation in his art could symbolize a need to impose structure on a chaotic world (personal exile, war, illness). Still lifes from immediate surroundings evoke containment and mastery over limited environments, perhaps mirroring his physical constraints from poor health.
- Absence of Turmoil: Unlike Picasso's more aggressive deconstruction or expressive distortions, Gris's work is serene and lyrical in later years, suggesting emotional stability or stoicism rather than inner conflict. No overt themes of anguish, unlike some modernist peers.
Key Works as Visual Context
Gris's paintings often feature controlled, harmonious still lifes:These exemplify his pursuit of clarity, balance, and intellectual synthesis.
Summary Assessment
Juan Gris appears to have been a highly disciplined, intellectual individual with a structured personality, thriving on order amid personal adversity. Transient low mood linked to physical suffering and external events is noted, but no indications of chronic mental illness. His art reflects resilience through rational control and aesthetic harmony, portraying a mind seeking perfection in an imperfect life. This "evaluation" highlights traits of meticulousness and introversion rather than pathology.
1912-1913 Guitare
2008 SOLD for $ 6.6M by Sotheby's
Juan Gris's collage techniques—primarily centered on papier collé (pasted paper)—represent a refined and systematic evolution of the medium within Synthetic Cubism. While Georges Braque invented papier collé in 1912 and Pablo Picasso quickly adopted and expanded it, Gris brought a distinctive intellectual precision, clarity, and decorative sophistication to the practice starting around 1913–1914. He devoted himself almost exclusively to papier collé for about eight months in 1914, producing over forty works that many scholars consider the climax of his exploration of Cubism's intellectual possibilities.
Unlike the more intuitive, often sparse collages of Braque and Picasso (which emphasized raw materiality and ambiguity), Gris's approach was methodical: he began with a clear conceptual plan for the composition, treating collage as a constructive tool to build harmonious, balanced images rather than merely experiment. His works are closer to paintings in density—the entire surface is typically covered with layered paper and paint—creating complex, multilayered compositions that play perceptual games with truth, fiction, illusion, and abstraction.
Core Techniques in Gris's Collage Work
(Gris often incorporated sheet music or patterned papers in collages for rhythmic texture and decorative effect.)
(An example with guitar motifs, where collage elements evoke wood and strings through layered patterns.)
(Sheet music fragments layered for musical and visual harmony, typical of Gris's precise overlapping.)
His 1914 masterpiece Breakfast (Le Petit Déjeuner) exemplifies these methods: gouache, oil, crayon, and cut-and-pasted printed paper on canvas combine to depict abstracted breakfast items (cups, glass, newspaper) with tactile wood-grain papers, restrained yet rich colors, and seamless integration of collage and drawing.
Gris's collages elevated papier collé from experiment to a rigorous artistic language, emphasizing clarity, intellectual depth, and decorative beauty. They influenced later movements (e.g., Purism's orderliness) and underscored Cubism's shift toward materiality and perceptual play. His premature death in 1927 cut short further development, but his collages remain among the most lucid and innovative in the movement.
Unlike the more intuitive, often sparse collages of Braque and Picasso (which emphasized raw materiality and ambiguity), Gris's approach was methodical: he began with a clear conceptual plan for the composition, treating collage as a constructive tool to build harmonious, balanced images rather than merely experiment. His works are closer to paintings in density—the entire surface is typically covered with layered paper and paint—creating complex, multilayered compositions that play perceptual games with truth, fiction, illusion, and abstraction.
Core Techniques in Gris's Collage Work
- Papier Collé as Primary Medium
Gris adhered diverse paper elements (newspaper clippings, printed wallpaper, wood-grain imitation paper, labels, packaging fragments, and occasionally mirror shards) directly onto canvas or paper supports. He used these to evoke textures and objects (e.g., wood grain for tabletops, newsprint for newspapers) while questioning representation. The pasted papers introduce real-world tactility and flatness, reinforcing the canvas as an object rather than a window. - Careful Cutting and Precise Alignment
Gris cut papers with meticulous precision, often lining up patterns to make seams nearly invisible (akin to marquetry or wallpaper installation). He disguised junctions with black media (charcoal, crayon, or gouache) drawn over edges for seamlessness. Patches were sometimes added for corrections, matched perfectly to the underlying pattern, creating an illusion of continuity and heightening optical trickery. - Integration of Drawing and Paint
Gris combined collage with traditional media: charcoal or crayon for outlines and shading, gouache or oil for color modulation, and pencil underdrawing. He rendered volumetric forms through light and shadow using these tools—techniques rooted in centuries-old illusionism—then juxtaposed them against flattened, disjointed collage elements. This creates tension: realistic modeling clashes with abstract planes, fooling the eye and complicating spatial reading. - Overlapping Patterns and Complex Layering
Gris favored intricate overlapping of patterned papers (e.g., multiple wood grains, checks, or prints) to build depth through visual rhyming and optical distortion. This differs from Braque/Picasso's sparser approach—Gris's surfaces are dense and decorative, with bold color harmonies (influenced by Matisse) in blues, browns, reds, and grays. - Trompe-l'œil and Visual Puns
He delighted in perceptual games: real labels pasted next to painted imitations, phonetic wordplay (e.g., newspaper fragments spelling "Gris" or puns on his name), or trompe-l'œil elements that mimic collage. These blur reality and artifice, inviting viewers to decipher the composition like a puzzle. - Materials and Process
Common elements include printed newspaper (for headlines, texture, or current events), wood-grain wallpaper, tobacco labels, and packaging. Gris applied adhesive carefully to avoid visible glue lines, often working on prepared canvas for durability. His process was premeditated—unlike spontaneous collage experiments—aligning with his theoretical view of Cubism as ordered synthesis.
(Gris often incorporated sheet music or patterned papers in collages for rhythmic texture and decorative effect.)
(An example with guitar motifs, where collage elements evoke wood and strings through layered patterns.)
(Sheet music fragments layered for musical and visual harmony, typical of Gris's precise overlapping.)
His 1914 masterpiece Breakfast (Le Petit Déjeuner) exemplifies these methods: gouache, oil, crayon, and cut-and-pasted printed paper on canvas combine to depict abstracted breakfast items (cups, glass, newspaper) with tactile wood-grain papers, restrained yet rich colors, and seamless integration of collage and drawing.
Gris's collages elevated papier collé from experiment to a rigorous artistic language, emphasizing clarity, intellectual depth, and decorative beauty. They influenced later movements (e.g., Purism's orderliness) and underscored Cubism's shift toward materiality and perceptual play. His premature death in 1927 cut short further development, but his collages remain among the most lucid and innovative in the movement.
The analytic Cubism was a deconstruction, not far from the Futurism and the later Suprematism. The synthetic Cubism is a reconstruction. The more defined shapes of an object and its bright colors do not match a reality but respond to the imagination of the artist. Arrangements of hermetic symbols anticipate Kandinsky's abstraction.
Juan Gris is a pioneer of synthetic Cubism in mixed media and a direct influencer of the six year older Picasso. Gertrude Stein later commented that "Juan Gris was the only person whom Picasso wished away".
The Spanish guitar is a favorite theme to this artist hypersensitive to its music, born in Madrid and living in Paris since 1906.
Guitare, oil and collage on canvas 73 x 60 cm is a very early example located and dated Paris 12-13 in the reverse. In the center the stringed musical instrument is made of a garish yellow wallpaper overlapped by a painted music sheet.
Guitare had been directly acquired from Gris by Kahnweiler. It was sold for $ 6.6M by Sotheby's on November 3, 2008, lot 45.
Juan Gris is a pioneer of synthetic Cubism in mixed media and a direct influencer of the six year older Picasso. Gertrude Stein later commented that "Juan Gris was the only person whom Picasso wished away".
The Spanish guitar is a favorite theme to this artist hypersensitive to its music, born in Madrid and living in Paris since 1906.
Guitare, oil and collage on canvas 73 x 60 cm is a very early example located and dated Paris 12-13 in the reverse. In the center the stringed musical instrument is made of a garish yellow wallpaper overlapped by a painted music sheet.
Guitare had been directly acquired from Gris by Kahnweiler. It was sold for $ 6.6M by Sotheby's on November 3, 2008, lot 45.
September 1913 Violon et Guitare
2010 SOLD for $ 28.6M by Christie's
Juan Gris is close to the artists who develop Cubism : Braque, Léger, Metzinger. He first earns his living with satirical drawings for magazines. In 1911 he begins to paint in oil. Kahnweiler signs in 1913 a contract by which he buys all the current and future work of this young artist, as he had done previously with Braque, Picasso and Léger.
Juan can now devote himself to his art with a freer spirit. He stays in Céret from August to November 1913, without crossing the border because he had escaped his military service and was considered a deserter in his native country.
The choice of Céret is not by chance : Picasso conceived Cubism in that village with Braque in 1911 and was staying there for the third consecutive summer. Juan declares himself as a disciple of Pablo and tries to claim to anyone all the secrets of Cubism. Very annoyed, Picasso avoids this overly enthusiastic young man.
Yet Juan is also an innovator. His works painted in Céret offer the transition between analytical cubism, defined as a flattening of forms, and synthetic cubism, by which objects receive again identifiable contours and bright colors.
On November 3, 2010, Christie's sold for $ 28.6M Violon et Guitare, oil on canvas 100 x 65 cm painted by Juan Gris in Céret in September 1913, lot 23.
Kahnweiler is satisfied with Gris's progress and Picasso can no longer ignore his rival, while maintaining his unilateral animosity. Picasso wanted to be seen as the leader of this cubism which indeed could only appeal the theorists. Shortly afterward Picasso, Braque and Gris will try simultaneously but in vain to save the analytical cubism by inserting on their canvases some newspaper clippings, ultimate avatars of the destruction of perspective.
Juan can now devote himself to his art with a freer spirit. He stays in Céret from August to November 1913, without crossing the border because he had escaped his military service and was considered a deserter in his native country.
The choice of Céret is not by chance : Picasso conceived Cubism in that village with Braque in 1911 and was staying there for the third consecutive summer. Juan declares himself as a disciple of Pablo and tries to claim to anyone all the secrets of Cubism. Very annoyed, Picasso avoids this overly enthusiastic young man.
Yet Juan is also an innovator. His works painted in Céret offer the transition between analytical cubism, defined as a flattening of forms, and synthetic cubism, by which objects receive again identifiable contours and bright colors.
On November 3, 2010, Christie's sold for $ 28.6M Violon et Guitare, oil on canvas 100 x 65 cm painted by Juan Gris in Céret in September 1913, lot 23.
Kahnweiler is satisfied with Gris's progress and Picasso can no longer ignore his rival, while maintaining his unilateral animosity. Picasso wanted to be seen as the leader of this cubism which indeed could only appeal the theorists. Shortly afterward Picasso, Braque and Gris will try simultaneously but in vain to save the analytical cubism by inserting on their canvases some newspaper clippings, ultimate avatars of the destruction of perspective.
May 1914 La Table de Musicien
2018 SOLD for $ 32M by Christie's
The first cubism which is called analytical cubism is a search for the integration of the volume of objects within a flat surface. Led from 1910 by Picasso and Braque soon followed by Juan Gris, this technique leads to an explosion of forms that hinders the readability. Perspective and even color become non-existent or secondary.
This hermetic art does not satisfy its own inventor Picasso. In 1912 he sticks real ordinary materials in a composition : ropes and oilcloth. Curiously he does not exhibit this first experience that nevertheless launches the cubist collages. Braque, Picasso himself and Gris continue this exploration of a new artistic language conducive to show the everyday surroundings of table settings and still lifes.
The collage of newspaper clippings is a basic element of the new compositions. Easy to simulate also with the brush, the piece does not break the coherence of the work. It draws the attention of the viewer who seeks some meaning to the words in the context of the image, long before the Dada and Merz revolutions. It is also a fun method to date an artwork.
From December 1913 Juan Gris is the champion of this new evolution of cubism which finally retrieves perspective and color while respecting the primary objective of assimilating the represented object and its support. In the following months Malevich reaches the most extreme abstract art : the uselessness of the image in its support is another seminal advance of modernism.
On May 8, 2018, Christie's sold as lot 2 for $ 32M La table de musicien, oil, gouache, pencil and collage of paper on canvas 82 x 60 cm made by Gris in May 1914.
The table is the support of the arrangement. It is shown at an angle in an aerial view. In a subtle balance the collages participate in three different ways : the newspaper on the table, the wall paper and the stylized musical staves drawn on a white paper. The perspective effect allows the drawings of bottle and violin to overlap the painted and glued areas. Transparency effects disrupt the surfaces.
The war stops this playful phase when Kahnweiler with whom Gris was in contract in Paris is obliged to leave for Switzerland. In the following year Gris gives up his mixed technique and returns to oil on canvas with brilliantly colored compositions that imitate his collages. Nature morte à la nappe à carreaux, 116 x 90 cm, was sold for £ 35M by Christie's in 2014.
This hermetic art does not satisfy its own inventor Picasso. In 1912 he sticks real ordinary materials in a composition : ropes and oilcloth. Curiously he does not exhibit this first experience that nevertheless launches the cubist collages. Braque, Picasso himself and Gris continue this exploration of a new artistic language conducive to show the everyday surroundings of table settings and still lifes.
The collage of newspaper clippings is a basic element of the new compositions. Easy to simulate also with the brush, the piece does not break the coherence of the work. It draws the attention of the viewer who seeks some meaning to the words in the context of the image, long before the Dada and Merz revolutions. It is also a fun method to date an artwork.
From December 1913 Juan Gris is the champion of this new evolution of cubism which finally retrieves perspective and color while respecting the primary objective of assimilating the represented object and its support. In the following months Malevich reaches the most extreme abstract art : the uselessness of the image in its support is another seminal advance of modernism.
On May 8, 2018, Christie's sold as lot 2 for $ 32M La table de musicien, oil, gouache, pencil and collage of paper on canvas 82 x 60 cm made by Gris in May 1914.
The table is the support of the arrangement. It is shown at an angle in an aerial view. In a subtle balance the collages participate in three different ways : the newspaper on the table, the wall paper and the stylized musical staves drawn on a white paper. The perspective effect allows the drawings of bottle and violin to overlap the painted and glued areas. Transparency effects disrupt the surfaces.
The war stops this playful phase when Kahnweiler with whom Gris was in contract in Paris is obliged to leave for Switzerland. In the following year Gris gives up his mixed technique and returns to oil on canvas with brilliantly colored compositions that imitate his collages. Nature morte à la nappe à carreaux, 116 x 90 cm, was sold for £ 35M by Christie's in 2014.
#AuctionUpdate ‘La table de musician’ by #JuanGris auctions for $31,812,500. https://t.co/kjMtJ5yMWN pic.twitter.com/B4bOAYDloe
— Christie's (@ChristiesInc) May 8, 2018
June 1914 Tabac, Journal et Bouteille de Vin Rosé
2013 SOLD for $ 8.8M by Sotheby's
In the same series as La Table de Musicien, a smaller papier collé, oil and graphite on canvas 46 x 27.4 cm executed in June 1914 by Juan Gris and titled Tabac, journal et bouteille de vin rosé was sold for $ 8.8M from a lower estimate of $ 7M by Sotheby's on November 6, 2013, lot 6.
The glued newspaper is a clipping from the top of a front page of Le Journal and the elegant writing of the bottle label reads Vin Rosé. The tobacco pack also has its labels.
It was acquired by Kahnweiler just before the outbreak of the First World War when he was threatened in Paris as a German citizen and moved to Switzerland.
The glued newspaper is a clipping from the top of a front page of Le Journal and the elegant writing of the bottle label reads Vin Rosé. The tobacco pack also has its labels.
It was acquired by Kahnweiler just before the outbreak of the First World War when he was threatened in Paris as a German citizen and moved to Switzerland.
1914 La Console de Marbre
2004 SOLD for $ 7.4M by Sotheby's
La Console de marbre by Juan Gris is a culmination of the technique of the synthetic Cubism, ahead of Picasso and Braque.
This art on canvas 61 x 50 cm was executed in 1914 and acquired by Kahnweiler. It makes use over nearly the whole surface of paper collage including faux bois. The collages are overpainted and outlined in oil. A real mirrored glass is glued as if it were hanging over the table. A ewer and an open book are painted on the table top.
The goal of the artist was an effect of texture amidst the tridimensional simulation of its surrounding.
This tableau-objet far ahead of its time was sold for $ 7.4M from a lower estimate of $ 4.5M by Sotheby's on May 6, 2004, lot 114.
This art on canvas 61 x 50 cm was executed in 1914 and acquired by Kahnweiler. It makes use over nearly the whole surface of paper collage including faux bois. The collages are overpainted and outlined in oil. A real mirrored glass is glued as if it were hanging over the table. A ewer and an open book are painted on the table top.
The goal of the artist was an effect of texture amidst the tridimensional simulation of its surrounding.
This tableau-objet far ahead of its time was sold for $ 7.4M from a lower estimate of $ 4.5M by Sotheby's on May 6, 2004, lot 114.
late 1914 / early 1915 Le Livre
2012 SOLD for £ 10.3M by Christie's
Cubism was the most fertile source of modern art, capable of producing completely opposite trends such as Suprematism and Surrealism.
In 1914, Picasso and Gris tried the techniques of collage. They quickly appreciated that the loss of perspective was antagonistic to the will of the artist to express his vision of the world.
Titled Le Livre, an oil on canvas by Juan Gris, 73 x 60 cm, is perhaps his first work of the following year, 1915. Gris wants that his art is no more limited to a raw accumulation of objects, for creating sensations. He puts on the table an open book and a bottle of wine : knowledge and fun.
The wine is readable, it is one of the best Burgundies. The book is not readable, and you will find therein what you are seeking. It is curiously barred with a colored crease, reminiscent of the period of collages. The perspective came back, especially bold. The message allows multiple interpretations: Gris is already quite close to the future spirit of the Surrealists.
Le Livre was sold for £ 10.3M on February 7, 2012 by Christie's, lot 19.
Dada was created in 1916, but it is indeed by evoking Picasso that Apollinaire coined the word "surréaliste" in 1917. The moods of Juan Gris had a significant role in the development of the new languages of art.
In 1914, Picasso and Gris tried the techniques of collage. They quickly appreciated that the loss of perspective was antagonistic to the will of the artist to express his vision of the world.
Titled Le Livre, an oil on canvas by Juan Gris, 73 x 60 cm, is perhaps his first work of the following year, 1915. Gris wants that his art is no more limited to a raw accumulation of objects, for creating sensations. He puts on the table an open book and a bottle of wine : knowledge and fun.
The wine is readable, it is one of the best Burgundies. The book is not readable, and you will find therein what you are seeking. It is curiously barred with a colored crease, reminiscent of the period of collages. The perspective came back, especially bold. The message allows multiple interpretations: Gris is already quite close to the future spirit of the Surrealists.
Le Livre was sold for £ 10.3M on February 7, 2012 by Christie's, lot 19.
Dada was created in 1916, but it is indeed by evoking Picasso that Apollinaire coined the word "surréaliste" in 1917. The moods of Juan Gris had a significant role in the development of the new languages of art.
March 1915 Nature Morte à la Nappe à Carreaux
2014 SOLD for £ 35M by Christie's
The Cubism of Juan Gris experienced a rapid and powerful development. At first, the analysis of forms is deconstructing the figurative subject. The loss of the third dimension leads to collages.
In 1915, the art of Gris suddenly separates from Picasso and Braque. Gris gathers the objects of his everyday life. Arranged on the table, they make up his universe. Outside, in Paris, it is war. His objects are playing to constitute a new theater, like Cézanne's apples or Arcimboldo's vegetables.
In this sense, Gris is a precursor of surrealism. Painted in March 1915, Nature morte à la nappe à carreaux is a complex and colored composition, where the arrangement in a triangle forms a mask over the comforting support of the tabletop.
Times are hard for Juan Gris in the wartime Paris of 1915. His German dealer Kahnweiler had to flee to Bern and cannot support him directly. Being in civilian attire while the young men are serving on the front, he is booed by the Parisians when walking by the streets. His output is prolific, for earning his life.
The Galerie L'Effort Moderne of Léonce Rosenberg took over Kahnweiler for Gris in early 1915. Nature morte à la nappe à carreaux was acquired by Rosenberg.
This oil on canvas 116 x 90 cm, was sold for £ 35M from a lower estimate of £ 12M by Christie's on February 4, 2014, lot 9. Please watch the video shared by Christie's. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
Grok thought :
Quote
Fadhlaoui @Fadhlaoui2 Feb 19
Bonjour.#NatureMorte #thème #Juan_Gris,_1915,_Nature_morte_à_la_nappe_à_carreaux_(Still_Life_with_Checked_Tablecloth),_oil_on_canvas,_116.5_x_89.3_cm
In 1915, the art of Gris suddenly separates from Picasso and Braque. Gris gathers the objects of his everyday life. Arranged on the table, they make up his universe. Outside, in Paris, it is war. His objects are playing to constitute a new theater, like Cézanne's apples or Arcimboldo's vegetables.
In this sense, Gris is a precursor of surrealism. Painted in March 1915, Nature morte à la nappe à carreaux is a complex and colored composition, where the arrangement in a triangle forms a mask over the comforting support of the tabletop.
Times are hard for Juan Gris in the wartime Paris of 1915. His German dealer Kahnweiler had to flee to Bern and cannot support him directly. Being in civilian attire while the young men are serving on the front, he is booed by the Parisians when walking by the streets. His output is prolific, for earning his life.
The Galerie L'Effort Moderne of Léonce Rosenberg took over Kahnweiler for Gris in early 1915. Nature morte à la nappe à carreaux was acquired by Rosenberg.
This oil on canvas 116 x 90 cm, was sold for £ 35M from a lower estimate of £ 12M by Christie's on February 4, 2014, lot 9. Please watch the video shared by Christie's. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
Grok thought :
Quote
Fadhlaoui @Fadhlaoui2 Feb 19
Bonjour.#NatureMorte #thème #Juan_Gris,_1915,_Nature_morte_à_la_nappe_à_carreaux_(Still_Life_with_Checked_Tablecloth),_oil_on_canvas,_116.5_x_89.3_cm
- This X post launches a thread exploring still life (#NatureMorte) artworks, beginning with Juan Gris's 1915 synthetic cubist painting "Still Life with Checked Tablecloth," housed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and notable for its direct application of oil and graphite without a ground layer, blending geometric abstraction with everyday objects like grapes and a newspaper.
- The thread progresses through contrasting styles: Bernard Buffet's stark post-war expressionism, Henri Matisse's 1909 blue-toned Fauvist harmony, Jean-Siméon Chardin's 18th-century Rococo strawberry basket emphasizing light and texture, and Roy Lichtenstein's 1974 pop art lobster reinterpreting cubism via comic-book aesthetics.
- Posted by @Fadhlaoui2, a French art education account (Arts Plastiques), the series serves as a visual timeline of the still life genre's evolution, from classical realism to modernism, with minimal engagement indicating targeted sharing among art history enthusiasts rather than broad viral appeal.
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March 1915 Livre, Pipe et Verres
2008 SOLD for $ 21M by Christie's
An oil on canvas 73 x 95 cm painted by Juan Gris in March 1915 is titled in French "Livre, pipe et verres" (book, pipe and glasses).
In a Cubism inspired from Picasso and Braque, it is figurative. On an entablature where plans are entangled by the subtlety of color, an open book in the foreground contrasts by its sharpness and clarity. Seen from far away, it seems to be possible to read it, but when we come nearer we see that all lines of the book are scratched.
The artist seeks to represent a spatial effect that collages did not enable him to obtain. His perspective is made of tilted and angled semi-transparent planes, stacked one atop another in trompe l'oeil. The raised cover of the open book provides an additional graphic strength.
It was sold for $ 21M from a lower estimate of $ 12.5M by Christie's on November 6, 2008, lot 7.
In a Cubism inspired from Picasso and Braque, it is figurative. On an entablature where plans are entangled by the subtlety of color, an open book in the foreground contrasts by its sharpness and clarity. Seen from far away, it seems to be possible to read it, but when we come nearer we see that all lines of the book are scratched.
The artist seeks to represent a spatial effect that collages did not enable him to obtain. His perspective is made of tilted and angled semi-transparent planes, stacked one atop another in trompe l'oeil. The raised cover of the open book provides an additional graphic strength.
It was sold for $ 21M from a lower estimate of $ 12.5M by Christie's on November 6, 2008, lot 7.
July 1915 Le Pot de Géranium
2007 SOLD for $ 18.5M by Christie's
Le Pot de Géranium, oil on canvas 81 x 60 cm was painted in July 1915 by Juan Gris in the same style and complex perspective as the Livre, pipe et verres executed three months earlier.
A folded edition of Le Figaro is in the foreground. This newspaper symbolizes the art of collage that Picasso and Gris practiced in the previous year.
Le Pot de Géranium was sold for $ 18.5M from a lower estimate of $ 14M by Christie's on May 9, 2007, lot 59.
A folded edition of Le Figaro is in the foreground. This newspaper symbolizes the art of collage that Picasso and Gris practiced in the previous year.
Le Pot de Géranium was sold for $ 18.5M from a lower estimate of $ 14M by Christie's on May 9, 2007, lot 59.
1916 Guitare sur une Table
2013 SOLD for $ 9.1M by Christie's
Guitare sur une table, painted in January 1916 by Juan Gris for sale by the Galerie L'Effort Moderne of Léonce Rosenberg, is a later example of synthetic Cubism but with a simplified stacking of planar elements over a table which is tilted in another angle. The tabletop is viewed from over. The instrument is well shaped excepted that it is trimmed on its left edge. It is accompanied by two sheets of music.
This oil on canvas 92 x 59 cm was sold for $ 9.1M by Christie's on November 5, 2013, lot 11.
This oil on canvas 92 x 59 cm was sold for $ 9.1M by Christie's on November 5, 2013, lot 11.
