Nature Morte Aux Fruits 1929

Georges Valmier made this ‘Nature Morte Aux Fruits’ painting sometime around 1929, and looking at it I can only imagine him building up these forms through layers, intuitively, I mean. I feel like I'm seeing Valmier juggle, trying to keep all of these flat shapes in the air and making the picture at the same time! He’s really playing with flatness and depth, pushing and pulling us with color – that soft pink against the deep brown – and with the geometry of the shapes. I love the cherries against the black background. Thinking about Valmier’s wider practice, I see him here in conversation with the Cubists, particularly Juan Gris, but also moving into his own territory with these bold colors and simplified forms. It makes me think about how we are all constantly borrowing and riffing off of each other, and the way our shared visual language evolves.