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The Bottle of Banyuls

Juan Gris Spanish
1914
Not on view
Returned to lender
This work of art was on loan to the museum and has since been returned to its lender.
On an outdoor table dappled by colored sunlight, the mouth of a bottle of Banyuls fortified wine appears two ways, sealed by wax and open. Interrupting the pleasurable scene is a newspaper headline with the “terrifying” news of an air balloon whose basket detached and fell into the Tuileries Gardens, threatening death and causing injury. The basketweave pattern of the tabletop underscores that Gris’s choice of papers was never random, but an intricate piece of the narrative design.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: The Bottle of Banyuls
  • Artist: Juan Gris (Spanish, Madrid 1887–1927 Boulogne-sur-Seine)
  • Date: 1914
  • Medium: Cut-and-pasted printed wallpapers, newspaper, wove papers, transparentized paper, printed packaging, oil, crayon, gouache, and graphite on newspaper mounted on canvas
  • Dimensions: 21 5/8 × 18 1/8 in. (55 × 46 cm)
  • Classification: Collages
  • Credit Line: Hermann und Margrit Rupf-Stiftung, Kunstmuseum Bern (Ge 024)
  • Curatorial Department: Modern and Contemporary Art