Dancer in a café 1912

Jean Metzinger created "Dancer in a café" with oil on canvas, and it now lives at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery. The geometry is so great here, it's like Metzinger is laying out a puzzle, or mapping an interior landscape. I like how the tones are quite muted but there's still such a sense of light and atmosphere. The surface has a tight, controlled feeling to it. When you look at the painting as a whole you get the impression of a world built up from many layers of semi-transparent shards. There's one particular area, just left of centre, where the stem of a wine glass meets a faceted plane of shadowy brown. It's so subtle, almost disappearing into the background. For me, this quiet moment is a real anchor, holding the painting together. It reminds me of the way artists like Braque used similar tones and techniques to create a sense of depth and intimacy. It's a reminder that art is always a conversation, a back-and-forth across time.