Georges Braque (1882 - 1963)

This still life, purchased in 1962, was one of the first acquisitions of the Kunstsammlung. It was painted when Analytical Cubism was at its height. The forms of the objects are broken up into small planes or reduced to linear abbreviations. The spirals echo the shapes of violin scrolls or musical clefs, as well as alluding more generally to music. The broken lines and surfaces add complex rhythms. The alternation of densely packed areas and more open patches creates a sense of spatial depth, which is further heightened by gradations in the light. Form, space and light no longer serve the subject matter as such, but the coherence of the composition as a whole. ___