Artwork
Le sucrier et les bougies (Sugar Bowl and Candles)
Le sucrier et les bougies (Sugar Bowl and Candles) is an oil painting by the Cubism Synthetic artist Diego Rivera. It dates from 1915 and is held in the collection of the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art.
About this work
Overview
The composition centers on a white sugar bowl with a decorative abstract motif, a yellow candle in a holder, and assorted objects that populate the surface.
Diego Rivera’s 1915 oil painting Le sucrier et les bougies (Sugar Bowl and Candles) presents a modest still‑life arranged on a wooden table draped with a green cloth. The composition centers on a white sugar bowl with a decorative abstract motif, a yellow candle in a holder, and assorted objects that populate the surface. The work now belongs to the collection of the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art.
Subject & Meaning
The painting depicts everyday domestic items, a sugar bowl, a candle, a small brown rectangle and a patterned blue‑white object, set against a dark blue wall. By focusing on ordinary objects, Rivera explores the quiet visual poetry of household rituals, while the abstract pattern on the bowl hints at a subtle dialogue between tradition and emerging modern aesthetics.
Technique & Style
Rivera employs a restrained palette of greens, blues, yellows and whites, using oil to render the textures of cloth, porcelain and wax. The contrast between the illuminated candle and the deep‑hued background creates a sense of spatial depth. The decorative abstract design on the sugar bowl introduces a modernist element within an otherwise conventional still‑life framework.
History & Provenance
Executed early in Rivera’s career, the work reflects his pre‑Mexican‑revolution period of study in Europe. After changing hands through private collections, it entered the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, where it is displayed as part of the museum’s representation of early 20th‑century American‑influenced painting.
Context
Created in 1915, the piece emerges at a time when Rivera was absorbing European avant‑garde trends while still rooted in academic training. The juxtaposition of a traditional still‑life subject with abstract ornamentation mirrors broader artistic experiments that blended realism with emerging modernist vocabularies.
Artist & collection
Artist
Diego María de la Concepción Juan Nepomuceno Estanislao de la Rivera y Barrientos Acosta y Rodríguez was a Mexican painter. His large frescoes helped establish the mural movement in Mexican and international art.
Museum
Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art
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