Guitar and Fruit Bowl on a Table 1917

Juan Gris made this painting of a guitar and fruit bowl on a table in 1918, and it’s all about the way shapes fit together and how color can make them sing. Look how Gris uses simple colors, mostly tans, grays, and blacks. It’s like he’s building the image up from flat pieces of paper. You can almost feel him figuring out how each shape talks to the next. Notice how the curves of the fruit bowl are echoed by the guitar's body. It’s like everything is in conversation, even though they’re just objects on a table. Now, check out where the guitar strings meet the body of the instrument. See how the dark paint defines the space around them? It’s a little moment of tension that pulls the whole painting together. Gris reminds me of artists like Picasso, but he’s got his own thing, a quieter, more thoughtful way of breaking things down and putting them back together. It’s not about showing you exactly what’s there, but about giving you a new way to see.