Landscape at Ceret 1913

Juan Gris made this painting, Landscape at Ceret, with oil on canvas. The colours are earthy but bold and broken up into geometric shapes. The brushstrokes are smooth, like he’s trying to hide them – what’s up with that? You know, it’s like Gris is trying to hold onto something representational, but he’s letting it slip through his fingers. I wonder if he felt conflicted. Like, he had to include bits of the real world, but had to chop it up, too. Maybe he felt like his reality was fragmented, and he was trying to make sense of it all on the canvas. There’s a dialogue happening in the painting – a give and take. It reminds me of Cezanne, who was also trying to capture the essence of a place by breaking it down and building it back up again. We’re all magpies, taking shiny bits and bobs from each other. That’s what makes art so alive, this constant conversation.