Contrast in Glass and Fruit by George Braque

Glass and Fruit was painted by George Braque in 1931. The painting is made of sand and oil on canvas without a fixative. This style makes the painting appear coarsely textured especially on the negative space. Today, the painting is owned by and kept in St Louis Museum in the United States (Atheneum). The painting is one of the many works by Braque that blend cubism with still life. Painted more than 80 years ago, the painting represents a perfect still life image that employs contrast in detail to bring out an exquisitely colored masterpiece of the early 20th century.

The painting has five distinct elements. The most conspicuous form is the glass. The glass is full to the brim with liquid that is apparently made of two shades, perhaps a cocktail. The other form is the fruit. There are two fruits placed alongside the glass. The two fruits are of the same size and type, although their colors are different. Other forms drawn in the painting are three circular objects that can be taken for fruit seeds. The other form is a stoppered glass, although its base is obscured by the glass. Lastly, there is a wooden handle knife on which the two fruits are placed. All these forms are placed on a polygonal wooden table. The focus of the painting is on the fruits, especially the yellow one. The lines used in the painting are straight, both vertical and horizontal. Different lines meet at various vertices to make angles of various degrees. The predominant color in the painting is brown with at least five hues.

The central theme of this painting is the contrast illustrated through shapes, forms and colors. The glass containing the juice (presumed to be fruit juice) is made of the same material as the stoppered bottle in the painting. The stoppered bottle contains no colored liquid or is empty. The difference in the color of the two objects has been attributed by their contents. The two fruits in the painting are of the same size, although their colors are different. The fruits are used to contrast the outward difference that exists between ripe and unripe fruits. Still, the fruits are symbolic of a novel situation before any human intervention takes place. After the fruits are sliced using a knife, and their seeds are removed, their flesh can be minced to make a fruit juice cocktail capable of changing the natural color of another object.

The painting was created in 1931. It uses two artistic devises: cubism and still life. Cubism was a form of artistic expression applied in the period from 1881 to 1963 depending on the artists country (Sabine). George Braque used cubism in this work of art to avoid abstraction since the painting was designed to be figurative, depicting real objects used to convey some message. Still life artistry, like the one used in this painting, uses objects encountered on daily life for instance instruments, cutlery and food (Schapiro 204).

This painting uses color and contrast in detail to juxtapose two objects, situations or phenomena in an exquisite way. The painting was created using sand and canvas in the period when cubic expression was prevalent. Still life is also widely used in this painting by George Braque.

Works Cited

Glass and Fruit. Athenaeum, May 2013,. http://www.the-athenaeum.org/art/detail.php?ID=101962. Accessed 24th, August, 2016

Rewald, Sabine. Cubism. In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/cube/hd_cube.htm. Accessed 24th August, 2016

Schapiro, Meyer. "The Still Life as a Personal ObjectA Note on Heidegger and van Gogh." The Reach of Mind. Springer Berlin Heidelberg, 1968. 203-209.