Artwork
The Coffee Mill
The Coffee Mill is an oil painting by the Cubism Synthetic artist Juan Gris. It dates from 1916 and is held in the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art.
About this work
Technique & Style
Juan Gris created The Coffee Mill in 1916 using oil paint applied to a canvas support. The work measures 55 cm in height and 38.0 cm in width. Executed in Spain, the painting exemplifies the artist's mature Cubist approach, characterized by a structured composition and the interplay of geometric forms typical of his style during this period.
History & Provenance
The Coffee Mill was painted by Juan Gris in 1916, aligning with the artist’s mature Synthetic Cubist phase.
The work entered the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art in 1980 as accession number 1980.8, where it remains held. Its dimensions are recorded as 55 cm in height and 38.0 cm in width, and the painting is documented as created in Spain.
Overview
Juan Gris's The Coffee Mill, executed in 1916, is a quintessential example of his Synthetic Cubist phase.
Juan Gris's The Coffee Mill, executed in 1916, is a quintessential example of his Synthetic Cubist phase. The composition centers on a coffee mill, a cup, and a saucer, rendered not through the fragmented analysis of early Cubism but through the construction of interlocking geometric planes. Gris organizes these forms using a restrained palette dominated by ochre, olive green, and brown, punctuated by accents of blue and white to define volume and spatial relationships.
The surface exhibits a deliberate interplay between smooth painted areas and textural variations, creating a rhythmic balance between the depicted objects and the picture plane. Painted during a period when Gris was refining his signature style of integrating mathematical precision with poetic sensibility, the work demonstrates his departure from the monochromatic tones of Analytic Cubism toward a more structured, colorful synthesis. The painting reflects the artist's interest in the structural logic of everyday objects, transforming the mundane subject of a coffee mill into a complex architectural arrangement of color and form.
This piece stands as a significant contribution to the development of Synthetic Cubism, illustrating Gris's unique ability to harmonize abstraction with recognizable reality.
Subject & Meaning
The composition isolates the coffee‑related items and breaks them into interlocking planes, suggesting both their material presence and an abstracted sense of function. By reducing the objects to basic shapes, Gris invites viewers to contemplate the ordinary through a lens of visual analysis, emphasizing form over narrative.
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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.
