Seltzer Bottle and Glass 1917

Juan Gris made this painting of a Seltzer Bottle and Glass, we don't know when, but it’s a playful exploration of cubist painting. Look at how he's using these solid blocks of colour, like he’s building a puzzle. The colours aren't trying to trick you into thinking they're real, they're just having fun. Take that blue, for instance, in the bottle. It’s not about making a realistic seltzer bottle; it's about making a blue shape that bounces off the other shapes around it. There's a real joy in the materiality of the paint here, in the way it sits on the surface of the canvas. I love how he's used these blocks of colour to create a composition that’s both abstract and totally recognizable. Gris is in conversation with artists like Picasso and Braque, but he's definitely got his own voice. The spirit of collaboration and the ongoing investigation of form. It’s like they’re all asking, what can painting be? And the answer is, of course, anything you want.