Juan Gris

Lore & Background

Gris studied engineering in Madrid and contributed drawings to local periodicals from 1902 to 1904. He studied painting with José Moreno Carbonero from 1904 to 1905, and in 1905 adopted the name Juan Gris. In 1906 he moved to Paris, becoming friends with poets and artists including Guillaume Apollinaire, Henri Matisse, Georges Braque, and Pablo Picasso. He submitted darkly humorous illustrations to journals such as L'Assiette au Beurre and Le Rire.

Gris began painting seriously in 1911, developing a personal Cubist style. He exhibited for the first time at the 1912 Salon des Indépendants with Hommage à Pablo Picasso. That year he also exhibited at the first declared group exhibition of Cubism worldwide, in Barcelona, and signed a contract giving Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler exclusive rights to his work. After 1913 he converted to Synthetic Cubism, using papier collé extensively. Unlike Picasso and Braque, Gris painted with bright harmonious colors.

From late 1916 through 1917, Gris's works exhibited a greater simplification of geometric structure, a phase later called Crystal Cubism. In 1924 he designed ballet sets and costumes for Sergei Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes. He delivered his definitive lecture, Des possibilités de la peinture, at the Sorbonne in 1924. After October 1925 he was frequently ill with uremia and cardiac problems, and died of kidney failure on 11 May 1927.

Reader's Guide

Juan Gris is significant as a key figure in Cubism, whose works are considered among the movement's most distinctive. He coined the term Analytical Cubism and became a steadfast interpreter of Synthetic Cubism. His preference for clarity and order influenced the Purist style of Amédée Ozenfant and Le Corbusier, and made him an important exemplar of the post-war 'return to order' movement. Gris's geometric structure in his Crystal period served as a foundation for flattening elements onto a unifying surface, foretelling later developments. His top auction price of $57.1 million for Still Life with Checked Tablecloth reflects his enduring market value. His legacy includes influencing later artists such as Joseph Cornell, who drew inspiration from Gris's The Man at the Café.

Did You Know?

• Gris adopted the name Juan Gris in 1905, having been born José Victoriano González-Pérez.
• He coined the term 'Analytical Cubism' himself.
• Gris's only child, Georges Gonzalez-Gris, was born in 1909 and lived to 2003.
• The top auction price for a Gris work is $57.1 million, for his 1915 painting Still Life with Checked Tablecloth.

Notable Quotes (Wikiquote)

"Cézanne made a cylinder out of a bottle. I start from the cylinder to create a special kind of individual object. I make a bottle — a particular bottle — out of a cylinder." — Juan Gris "I try to make concrete that which is abstract." — Juan Gris "I always pet a dog with my left hand, because if he bit me, I'd still have my right hand to paint with." — Juan Gris