La Grande Mouche 1937

Louis Marcoussis made this painting, La Grande Mouche, by layering muted colors and bold geometric forms into a cubist still life. I can imagine Marcoussis trying to make sense of the world through shapes and colors, pushing and pulling forms and space to build a site for his own inquiry. What did it feel like to be him, wrestling with these angles and lines? There’s a definite materiality to the painting, the canvas grain coming through. Look at the horizontal brushstrokes that create a shadow on the left of the painting! How do these material traces shape our experience? I see him in conversation with other painters. Braque maybe. Or Picasso. He may have admired their work, but he made his own world, his own way of seeing. In the end, La Grande Mouche is part of an ongoing exchange of ideas across time, inspiring creativity and allowing for multiple interpretations.