An abstracted jug, bottles, shapes reminiscent of balled up paper or fabric, and a needle-like letter opener are gathered on a wood square in this horizontal still life painting. Rectangles in shades of corn yellow, violet purple, burgundy red-and-black checks, white, black, and spruce green splay out behind the objects like untidily stacked placemats. The brown jug is at the center, and an echo of its form in teal blue presumably represents a shadow. Portions of the jug, wooden board, and crumpled material shift color and pattern as they intersect or overlap with other areas. The artist’s initials, “DMR,” are stenciled in yellow in the lower left corner.
Diego Rivera, No. 9, Nature Morte Espagnole, 1915, oil on canvas, Gift of Katharine Graham, 2002.19.1

Cubism

Cubism takes apart the traditional language of visual representation and then puts it back together. The resulting images are fractured and disorienting, but not fully abstract. Invented by painters Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso, the style dominated French avant-garde art between about 1908 and 1914. Its influence then spread across the globe.

  • Two pieces of black paper and a third sheet with imitation wood grain paper are layered over a drawing of a guitar and other sheets of paper in this vertical collage. The guitar’s curved body and the lower part of the strings are drawn in black on tan paper, while the sound hole and rest of the strings are drawn with white lines on a rectangular piece of black paper that lies on top. Straight and angled lines protrude from the sides and top of the guitar with light hatching to suggest shading. A sheet of paper is drawn over the bottom of the guitar with hand lettering that reads, “Aria de Bach.” Another black rectangle overlaps the paper on the left and has a long, white, vertical line broken by a C-shape. The paper patterned with wood grain lies on top of the black paper and resembles a long triangle with its point cut off. The artist signed the lower right, “G Braque.”
  • We look down onto a pile with a newspaper, theater program, pipe, a black and white checkerboard, and other objects painted as abstracted, geometric forms on a tabletop in this nearly square still life painting. Near the center, a rectangular form like a newspaper is painted with the headline “LE JOURNAL.” Next to it, to our left, a playbill has the name “FANTOMAS” written in black against a parakeet-green background, above black mask and a “65” in a circle below. There are blocks of stylized, painted wood grain and other areas of color that do not line up with the objects represented. For instance, this conflicting pattern means that the lettering of the newspaper changes from white against the brown woodgrain to green against white. Moreover, seemingly unconnected to the objects, colors, and spaces below, yet more objects like a goblet and bowl of fruit are painted with white outlines that overlay the wood and objects below. A checkerboard pattern is layered under the woodgrain and papers, near the lower right corner, and another pattern like architectural molding carved with stylized leaves runs along the back, above the papers. The papers and a few other objects seem to cast shadows on the blocks of color behind them, so areas of lilac purple at the top left and burgundy red along the right edge read visually as a background behind everything. The artist signed the work in black on the lower left corner: “Juan Gris 8-1915.”
  • Irregular, geometric shapes in burnt orange, pale peach, light blue, forest and mint green, brown, taupe, gray, and black are layered and spread across this horizontal, abstract painting. They are mostly flat planes of color. One shape to our right of center has four rows of rounded rectangles to create a checkboard pattern of sage green against terracotta brown. A wide parchment-brown band divides the checkboard from top to bottom. The artist signed the lower right, “Juan Gris.”
  • The sculpture features an abstract human figure holding a musical instrument. It is crafted in a cubist style with geometric shapes and angular facets that suggest a seated person, their legs crossed and their fingers placed on an instrument with a long neck that stretches horizontally to the right. The sculpture is a dark gray color, and it is positioned upright on a solid base.”
  • A patchwork of earth-toned rectangles, cubes, and prism-like shapes surrounded by pools of cool aquamarine and silvery gray fill this square, nearly abstract painting. Brushstrokes, which are mostly horizontal, and dashes are visible throughout. A curving, pointed form at the lower center could be a boat with a tall, fawn-brown mast. It is surrounded by forms suggestive of rocks, other boats, or structures against a watery horizon. Most of the shapes around the boat are leather brown, tan, apricot orange, muted violet, or steel gray. Another pole, also suggestive of a mast, angles up from near the lower left corner, about a third of the way into the composition. Many of the shapes are outlined with charcoal-gray lines. Horizontal and blended strokes in pewter gray and icy blue at the upper corners suggest the sky.
  • Geometric and wavy shapes in areas of flat color come together as a person holding a small guitar, sitting on a green chair, in this vertical, abstracted painting. Some of the forms are outlined in black. Two dots and a curving line read as a modern smiley face on the person’s head, but a circle to our left and a tall, long oval to our right could be the eyes. The tall oval has short, cilia-like rays at the top and bottom, perhaps eyelashes. Pointed triangles along the bottom of the head area could be a beard or mustache. A shallow, upside-down, black U over the head is filled in with slate blue, and is presumably a hat. Areas on the torso have black grids creating diamond patterns against tomato red or bright yellow. Another area has vertical red and yellow dashes against a black background. Together they read as a diamond-patterned costume. The guitar is held vertically on the lap. It has an oversized neck vertically striped with black and white, an orange body with slivers of white to our left and black to our right. One hand holds the guitar near the tuning pegs and the other, represented with three wavy lines for fingers, touches the strings below. The chair behind the musician is grass green, and has curving sides and scrolling arms. The background behind the chair has vertical petal-pink and ocean-blue rectangles, against a wall that is off white above and rust brown below. The two zones of the wall are separated by a band with a Greek key pattern in charcoal gray and black. The artist signed and dated the top left corner, “Picasso 24.”
  • An abstracted jug, bottles, shapes reminiscent of balled up paper or fabric, and a needle-like letter opener are gathered on a wood square in this horizontal still life painting. Rectangles in shades of corn yellow, violet purple, burgundy red-and-black checks, white, black, and spruce green splay out behind the objects like untidily stacked placemats. The brown jug is at the center, and an echo of its form in teal blue presumably represents a shadow. Portions of the jug, wooden board, and crumpled material shift color and pattern as they intersect or overlap with other areas. The artist’s initials, “DMR,” are stenciled in yellow in the lower left corner.
  • Overlapping, geometric shapes painted in tones of tan, oatmeal, and coffee brown and outlined in black cluster along the center of this tall, vertical, abstract painting. Except for the outlines, the paint is put on in long, horizontal strokes to create patches of color. The unpainted canvas shows through in some areas, especially in the lower corners and up along the right edge. A few shapes could recall body parts, like curved shapes for breasts near the top and an angled line for an elbow. The artist signed the work with black paint at the lower center: “Picasso.”
  • Rust brown, pewter gray, steel blue, and tan geometric forms are piled up in this abstract vertical painting to suggest buildings, train tracks, and metal grates on city streets. The composition is densely packed with shapes, many of them repeating in clusters. For instance, in the center, three rust red, angular shapes resemble escalator steps. Below and to the right, five narrow triangles form an arc. Near the bottom edge, six thinly painted, triangular, kelly-green shapes point almost downward like nested arrows. The green color is strongest along their edges but quickly feathers away as it moves inward. More pointed shapes in denim blue are layered in front of them near the lower right corner, with the points facing our left. The dark tones are broken up by soft honey-gold fields at the sides and near the bottom. A row of narrow gray rectangles spans the lower edge of the canvas like the slats of a pier or a moving walkway. In tiny letters, the artist signed and dated the work near the lower right corner, “MAX WEBER 1915.”
  • Abstracted objects, including a guitar, vase, papers, and playing cards, are gathered on a tabletop in this horizontal still life painting. The objects are made up of areas of mostly flat color and many are outlined in black, creating the impression that the some shapes are two-dimensional and assembled almost like a collage. The brown table has an oval top and a curving pedestal foot. At the center of the jumble on the tabletop, a guitar lies on its side with the neck facing us and reaching to our right. Beneath the black fretboard and neck, the curving form of the guitar is painted tomato red. The upper half is represented by a squared-off brown form. The guitar seems to rest atop or in front of an array of stacked shapes, like splayed pieces of paper, in white, lavender purple, and pale blue. A curving form painted in turquoise to our left seems to be a vase holding a spray of three flowers. The vase is shown against a white square painted with horizontal black lines, like sheet music. A dark gray form at the middle of the table, beneath the guitar, could be the silhouette of a bird facing our left. Just to the right of the bird, a pair of playing cards lie on a blue area. Painted in turquoise against gray, one card has six dots and the other one club. A chair with a curved, arching top and a gray upholstered seat is pulled up to the table to our right. The front left leg is light gray with turned knobs near the foot and halfway up the leg; the right leg is painted black, as if in shadow. Panels of pale tan suggest wainscotting behind the table beneath a pale gray wall across the background. The overall impression of the painting is fragmented as even single objects seem to be broken up into planes and areas of color. The artist signed and underlined his name with red paint in the lower left corner: “Picasso.”
  • Sharp, angular forms in shades of laurel, bottle, and moss green, bronze and honey brown, turquoise, and steel gray are fragmented and faceted in this kaleidoscopic, abstract, vertical painting. The gray forms are near the center, and the ochre-brown forms are along the right third of the canvas. A few glints of dark yellow and rust orange are across the bottom, and the rest is filled in with earthy and cool greens. Each form is broken into strips, rays, or bands. The brown and gray areas come to points, like pitched roofs, and one parchment-white shape near the bottom right corner could be a building. The artist signed the lower right corner, “Feininger.”
  • A woman and girl stand together in an embrace in the center of a colorful interior in this stylized vertical painting. The bodies of the women are made up of geometric spherical, conical, or columnar forms. Their skin and torsos are chalk white shaded with gray. To our left, a field of marigold yellow suggests a skirt on the girl. The woman, to our right, has a pine-green skirt. For each one, their hair is indicated by what looks like a shiny strip of black, curved like broad finger waves to cascade down one side of their heads and faces. Light glints horizontally on the bent areas, like vinyl. Both have round eyes under curved brows, straight noses squared off at the bottom, and squiggles for their mouths. Their bodies are angled toward each other. The background is made up of black and burgundy-red horizontal and vertical lines and flat geometric forms to suggest shelving with objects, including a blue vase and spiky green plant around a window or painting, framed in black, to our left. A shallowly curving, cranberry-red form up the left edge suggests a curtain. The artist signed and dated the lower right, “F.LEGER 22.”

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This square portrait shows the head and shoulders of a young woman in front of a spiky bush that fills much of the background except for a landscape view that extends into the deep distance to our right. The woman's body is angled to our right but her face turns to us. She has chalk-white, smooth skin with heavily lidded, light brown eyes, and her pale pink lips are closed. Pale blush highlights her cheeks, and she looks either at us or very slightly away from our eyes. Her brown hair is parted down the middle and pulled back, but tight, lively curls frame her face. Her hair turns gold where the light shines on it. She wears a brown dress, trimmed along the square neckline with gold. The front of the bodice is tied with a blue ribbon, and the lacing holes are also edged with gold. A sheer white veil covers her chest and is pinned at the center with a small gold ball. The bush fills the space around her head with copper-brown, spiky leaves. A river winds between trees and rolling hills in the distance to our right. Trees and a town along the horizon, which comes about halfway up the painting, is pale blue under an ice-blue sky.

Painting

Since ancient times, artists have made paintings to tell stories or capture beauty. They’ve used egg tempera, oil, and more recently acrylic to create compositions of all shapes and sizes. The results include radiant altarpieces, striking portraits, luminous landscapes, and abstract expressions.

This vertical photograph shows a black ink drawing on an off-white page of a spiral-bound sketchbook. A person shown in profile faces our left, with one hand holding a pencil near the left edge. The pencil leaves a straight vertical line parallel to the notebook's edge. The drawing is made with simple, continuous outlines and areas of parallel hatching. The person’s head is near the upper center. A large circular eye with a dark pupil is set within the face, and a triangular nose projects to our left. A long line sweeps from the top of the head toward the upper right before curving downward to form the back of a hairline. Diagonal stripes fill part of this shape.

Portraits

Portraits represent people, either real or imagined, attempting to capture their appearance or essence. Some artists explored the human form and emotions through portraits of loved ones. Others made a living depicting wealthy or important people. And artists like Rembrandt van Rijn and Vincent van Gogh frequently used themselves as models.