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Pears and Grapes on a Table

Juan Gris Spanish
Céret, autumn 1913
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 830
The sense of movement and intrigue in this diagonally oriented painting is palpable: someone has quickly left the scene, leaving a shawl or cloak behind on the chair and a crumpled napkin and folded newspaper on the table. The blade of the black knife at far left, dangerously angled at the table’s edge, infuses the painting with menace, while the goblet at right seems to levitate upward at an angle. A fluted design on its base almost appears as the fingers of an invisible intruder. In contrast to Braque and Picasso, Gris reveled in garish colors that add narrative drama to his still lifes.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Pears and Grapes on a Table
  • Artist: Juan Gris (Spanish, Madrid 1887–1927 Boulogne-sur-Seine)
  • Date: Céret, autumn 1913
  • Medium: Oil on canvas
  • Dimensions: 21 1/2 × 28 3/4 in. (54.6 × 73 cm)
  • Classification: Paintings
  • Credit Line: Leonard A. Lauder Cubist Collection, Gift of Leonard A. Lauder, 2025
  • Object Number: 2025.616.2
  • Curatorial Department: Modern and Contemporary Art

More Artwork

More Artwork
The Musician’s Table, Juan Gris Spanish, Conté crayon, wax crayon, gouache, cut-and-pasted printed wallpaper, blue and white laid papers, transparentized paper, newspaper, and brown wrapping paper; selectively varnished on canvas
The Musician’s Table
Juan Gris
1914
Drawing of Two Medieval Swords, Mariano Fortuny Marsal Spanish, Paper, ink, graphite, Spanish
Drawing of Two Medieval Swords
Mariano Fortuny Marsal
19th century
Burgomaster Jan van Duren (1613–1687), Gerard ter Borch the Younger Dutch, Oil on canvas
Burgomaster Jan van Duren (1613–1687)
Gerard ter Borch the Younger
ca. 1666–67
Woman in a Chemise in an Armchair, Pablo Picasso Spanish, Oil on canvas
Woman in a Chemise in an Armchair
Pablo Picasso
Paris, late 1913–early 1914
Head of a Woman (Portrait of the Artist's Mother), Juan Gris Spanish, Oil on canvas
Head of a Woman (Portrait of the Artist's Mother)
Juan Gris
Paris, 1912

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