Cubism in Color: The Still Lifes of Juan Gris

The first U.S. exhibition in over 35 years dedicated to Spanish artist Juan Gris highlights his pioneering and revolutionary contributions to the Cubist movement by focusing on his fascination with subjects drawn from everyday life.

Through nearly 40 paintings and collages, Cubism in Color: The Still Lifes of Juan Gris reveals the transformation of Gris’s innovative style and principal motifs from 1911 until 1926, one year before his tragically early death at age 40. His exquisite compositions explored the boundary between abstraction and representation, tension and stasis, color and form. As a thorough examination of Gris’s still lifes, Cubism in Color provides an opportunity to reconsider the legacy of this important yet underappreciated modernist master.

“It is extraordinarily rare to see so many works by Juan Gris together, particularly in the United States. We are pleased to bring them together for this exhibition to offer a rich and nuanced re-examination of the artist’s important role in a defining art-historical movement,” said Dr. Agustín Arteaga, the DMA’s Eugene McDermott Director.

About Juan Gris

Born José Victoriano Carmelo Carlos González Pérez in Madrid, Juan Gris (1887–1927) was one of the primary contributors to the development of Cubism in the early 20th century. Though he was championed by art dealers Daniel Kahnweiler and Léonce Rosenberg and writer and art collector Gertrude Stein, who considered him “a perfect painter,” Gris’s pivotal role within the movement has often been overshadowed by his better-known cohorts Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque, and Fernand Léger.

His works are among the movement’s most original and inventive, building upon early Cubist precedents with experimental and exquisite still-life compositions distinguished by their vibrant colors, bold patterns, and a constantly shifting approach. By bringing together nearly 40 of Gris’s most distinctive still lifes from major European and American collections, Cubism in Color will reveal the virtuosic range of the artist’s short yet prolific career, illuminating his boundary-pushing contributions to Cubism.