Juan Gris is a great Spanish artist who, unlike Pablo Picasso, remained faithful to Cubism throughout his life

Juan Gris (March 23, 1887 May 11, 1927) is a famous Spanish artist of the early twentieth century, one of the founders and most prominent representatives of Cubism. He was also a talented illustrator, cartoonist, theatrical scenery and costumes for ballet performances. The cost of the greatest masterpieces of the master’s work today amounts to tens of millions of dollars, and his paintings are presented in the expositions of the best museums in the world. The artist’s biography is closely connected with Paris, where he spent most of his life.

Juan Gris is the creative pseudonym of the brilliant Spanish painter. Back in 1905, the 18-year-old artist changed his real name Jose Victoriano Gonzalez-Perez to a shorter and more sonorous nickname, under which he later gained worldwide fame.

Biography

Juan Gris was born on March 23, 1887 in the capital of Spain in a middle-class bourgeois family. On the facade of house no. 4 on Calle del Carmen in the center of Madrid, where the future artist was born, there is now a memorial plaque dedicated to this significant event.

From childhood, Jose was fond of drawing and from the age of fifteen his cartoons were published in several metropolitan satirical magazines. Nevertheless, at the School of Arts and Sciences, at the insistence of his parents, he first studied engineering for two years, until he transferred to the class of painting professor José Moreno Carbonero. Carried away at the beginning of his creative career with modernism, Juan Gris quickly lost interest in academic art and dropped out of school. For a year he was engaged in the creation of illustrations for popular prints, but soon decided to radically change his life and left for Paris.

The capital of France at that time was rightfully considered the main center of contemporary art; many outstanding modernist artists worked here. Gris settled in Montmartre, in the famous hostel Bateau Lavoir, where he lived surrounded by young colleagues for the next ten years.

Here he met and befriended Pablo Picasso, as well as other outstanding creative personalities, including:

• Fernand Léger
• Georges Braque;
• Jean Metzinger;
• Amadeo Modigliani (Amedeo Modigliani);
• Guillaume Apollinaire.

In 1908, Juan Gris married Lucy Belin, who soon gave birth to his only child, a son, Georges. But the passionate nature of the artist was alien to the desire for constancy and peace, she longed for changes, both in her personal life and in her work.

Therefore, Gris quit his job as a cartoonist in 1911 and decided to devote himself entirely to painting. He became interested in Cubism and began to purposefully develop his own unique style of painting. A year later, for the first time, he took part in the Paris exhibition of the Society of Independent Artists, where the works of the young author were noted by critics.

In addition, in 1912, Juan Gris fell in love with another woman and left his wife and child.

His chosen one was Charlotte Erpen, with whom the artist lived for eight years in a civil marriage. The most fruitful period of the master’s work began, which brought him worldwide recognition.

The talented Spaniard was constantly invited to take part in Cubist exhibitions, and his growing popularity caused Picasso’s creative jealousy. Gradually, friends stopped communicating, and Gris remained faithful to Cubism until the end of his life, and Pablo gradually evolved towards figurative art.

In the mid-1920s, Juan Gris made his successful debut as a theater artist. At the request of Sergei Diaghilev, he created the scenery for two ballet performances of the popular Russian Seasons entreprise. And soon the Spanish painter established himself as an outstanding art theorist, having read a lecture at the Sorbonne on the peculiarities of modern painting.

But the further development of the artist’s creative career was suddenly interrupted by an aggravated kidney disease. Starting in the autumn of 1925, the master experienced serious health problems, and his life was rapidly approaching a sad end. Despite the efforts of the best Parisian doctors, on May 11, 1927, Juan Gris died at the age of only 40, leaving behind a rich artistic legacy.

The most famous paintings by Juan Gris

The brilliant Spanish painter has created many unique masterpieces of fine art. And yet, the most famous paintings by Juan Gris rightfully include:

1. “Portrait of Pablo Picasso” (1912) is the most famous work of the master. On it, the artist depicted his friend and countryman in cold gray-blue tones, deeply immersed in creative thoughts.
2. Violin and Guitar (1913) one of the most expensive works of the Spaniard, sold in 2010 at Christies auction for 28.6 million. The picture, in which dark shades prevail, attracts the viewer with the amazing correctness of the forms and recognizability of the contours of musical instruments.
3. Still Life with a Checkered Tablecloth (1915) is a masterpiece for which the American billionaire Leonard Lauder paid over 57 million at open auction. Subsequently, the patron donated this painting to the Metropolitan Museum in New York, where it is now located.
4. “Book, Pipe and Glasses” (1915) another work of the master, sold for an astronomical amount of several tens of millions of dollars. It differs significantly from most other works by its unusual clarity of contours and original color combinations.

Juan Gris lived a short but creatively fruitful life. And his paintings still arouse great interest among viewers who visit retrospective exhibitions of the artist’s works in different parts of our planet.