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The Guitar

Juan Gris Spanish
1913
Not on view
Returned to lender
This work of art was on loan to the museum and has since been returned to its lender.
Twice Gris added a twist to the classic trompe l’oeil theme of a print nailed to a wall (exemplified by Correa’s adjacent painting) by incorporating a real reproductive print. In this way, a multiple—the print was from a large edition—acquired uniqueness. Gris may have picked this British engraving (by Charles Heath, based on Henry Howard’s The Swiss Peasant and published in 1831) because it reeked of passé popular taste and suggested the kind of folksy music played by the absent guitarist. The artist’s imitations of wood and marble look willfully crude, in keeping with the painting’s general air of feigned naivete.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: The Guitar
  • Artist: Juan Gris (Spanish, Madrid 1887–1927 Boulogne-sur-Seine)
  • Date: 1913
  • Medium: Oil and cut-and-pasted printed paper on canvas
  • Dimensions: 24 × 19 11/16 in. (61 × 50 cm)
  • Classification: Paintings
  • Credit Line: Musée National d’Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, Donation of Louise and Michel Leiris, 1984
  • Rights and Reproduction: © CNAC/MNAM/Dist. RMN-Grand Palais / Art Resource, NY. Photo: Philippe Migeat
  • Curatorial Department: Modern and Contemporary Art