Photograph of Violin and Checkerboard 1913

Juan Gris made this painting, *Photograph of Violin and Checkerboard*, using oil on canvas. Gris was working in Paris, among a community of artists who would become central to the Cubist movement. Here, Gris presents us with a tabletop still life. We see musical instruments, sheet music, and domestic objects rendered through fragmented forms and multiple perspectives. Gris’s Cubism seeks to challenge traditional modes of representation; he’s after more than just a visual likeness. There is a tactile quality to his paintings; you can almost feel the roughness of the woodgrain. Gris also introduces emotional complexity through his disruption of traditional conventions of painting. In the wake of industrialization and rapid social change, early 20th-century Cubists turned to abstraction, seeking to capture a more complete, sensory experience of the world. As you consider this work, think about how Gris’s fragmented, multifaceted composition reflects the fragmented nature of modern life.