Still Life with a Poem

Still Life with a Poem is an oil on canvas by Juan Gris, dated 1915, held at the Norton Simon Museum. Like most still lifes, it shows everyday objects, but it does not fix them to a single viewpoint. Gris combines several angles, so that the space seems rearranged in the manner of a collage, even though the whole surface is painted in oil to imitate the grain of a wooden table. At the bottom sits a poem by Pierre Reverdy, which seems to set two separate paintings side by side and invite comparison. It is regarded as Gris's first truly collaborative work with the poet; an earlier joint project was left unfinished because printing became difficult during the war. Gris had trained as an engineer before turning to art. He moved in the circle of Cubism, a movement developed around 1907 by Picasso and Braque, and he is known for refining that language into a recognisable style of his own. Reverdy, a major French poet, worked closely with the same painters, and their partnership ended with Gris's death in 1927.

Painter

Juan Gris

Date

1915

Medium

oil paint, canvas

Dimensions

81 × 65 cm

Museum

Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena

Genre

still life

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