Newspaper, Glass and Pear 1917

Juan Gris made this painting of a Newspaper, Glass and Pear, with oil on canvas. Look at how the artist coaxes forth a world, bit by bit, by arranging flat shapes together. It's like he's building a puzzle, but instead of fitting pieces together, he's creating them. The way the colors interact gives the picture a tactile quality. The surface isn't smooth; you can see the texture of the canvas and how the paint sits on top. This piece has an intriguing combination of precision and improvisation, something you can see in the the red and gray shapes that suggest the pear and glass. Each brushstroke feels deliberate, yet the overall effect is spontaneous, like a jazz solo. This reminds me of the way some of my painter friends talk about their own work as a process of layering and revising until something unexpected emerges. Much like Mondrian in his later explorations of geometric form, Juan Gris shows us that painting is about the journey, not just the destination.