Still Life 1920

This “Still Life” by Le Corbusier, residing at MoMA, is a real exercise in seeing, isn’t it? The colours are muted, tending toward browns, greys and blues, which makes the whole thing feel somber, but also quite grounded. The surface looks smooth, and I can see a very controlled application of paint. He builds up the forms with subtle gradations of tone, creating a soft, almost dreamy feel. But, what's striking is how he's taken these everyday objects, like the guitar, bottles, and that plate, and really reduced them to their most basic shapes. Look at how that guitar is simply a series of rounded rectangles and cylinders, yet it's undeniably a guitar! It reminds me of Juan Gris, his contemporary, who also loved breaking things down into geometric forms, but while Gris does it with collage, Le Corbusier does it with a kind of quiet, painted architecture. Both artists are having a real conversation about what it means to see and represent the world around us.