Nature Morte c. 1912

This still life was made by Louis Marcoussis using paint and collage, and what’s great about a painting like this is that you can really see the artist working. Marcoussis has built up layers of ochre, blues and greens, like an archeological dig, and at the heart of the painting, you can see these grapes which are just simple, green circles. They seem to bubble to the surface out of that dense ground and they help to suggest a sense of depth and space. And right on top of those grapes, he's attached a printed label with the name 'Thomas Cook' emblazoned on it. It’s such a clever move, to take something from the real world and stick it on top of these abstract shapes. I'm reminded of Picasso, another painter who was interested in bringing everyday life into his compositions. Paintings like this ask us to question what we think of as 'real' and what we think of as 'art'.