Artwork
Still Life with a Guitar
Still Life with a Guitar is an oil painting by the Cubism Synthetic artist Juan Gris. It dates from 1913 and is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
About this work
It now hangs in Gallery 905 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, where visitors can see it alongside other early‑20th‑century pieces.
“Still Life with a Guitar” is an oil painting made in 1913 by the Spanish artist Juan Gris. The work belongs to his early period and shows his interest in breaking objects into geometric forms. It now hangs in Gallery 905 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, where visitors can see it alongside other early‑20th‑century pieces. If you’re curious for more, check out the museum: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Technique & Style
Still Life with a Guitar is an oil on canvas painting executed by Juan Gris in 1913. The work measures 66 by 100.5 centimeters, a horizontal format suited to Gris's Synthetic Cubist compositions of the period. Produced while Gris was working in Céret in the French Pyrenees, the painting reflects the analytical-to-synthetic Cubist handling Gris refined during these years, with the still-life motif of a guitar rendered through faceted planes and flattened pictorial structure.
The canvas is held in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, Gallery 905, and is classified as a Cubist still life in oil paint.
History & Provenance
Still Life with a Guitar was created in 1913 by Juan Gris while the artist was staying in the small French town of Céret in the Pyrenees, a location that had drawn other artists such as Picasso during the same year. The painting, executed in oil on canvas, had earlier passed through the collections of Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler and Jacques Gelman. It was subsequently included in the exhibition Twentieth-Century Modern Masters: The Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection.
The work is now held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, where it is displayed in Gallery 905.
Overview
Juan Gris, a Spanish Cubist painter, created Still Life with a Guitar in 1913 using oil on canvas. This painting exemplifies his early engagement with Cubism and is now part of the collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, where it is displayed in Gallery 905. The work represents a key moment in the development of analytical Cubism.
Context
Gris painted Still Life with a Guitar in Céret, a small town nestled in the French Pyrenees. This locale was a favored retreat for avant-garde artists of the period, attracting figures such as Pablo Picasso, who also visited Céret in 1913. The shared environment fostered artistic exchange and experimentation, contributing to the innovative spirit evident in works produced by Cubist artists during this time.
Own this work as a print
Artist & collection
Artist
José Victoriano González-Pérez, better known as Juan Gris, was a Spanish painter born in Madrid who lived and worked in France for most of his active period.
