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The Pink Tablecloth

Artist Georges Braque (French, 1882-1963)

Date1933

MediumOil and sand on canvas

Dimensions38 1/4 x 51 1/4 in. (97.2 x 130.2 cm)
Overall, Frame: 50 x 63 x 4 1/2 in. (127 x 160 x 11.4 cm)

ClassificationsModern art

Credit LineGift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.

Object number71.624

Terms

Table
Fruit
Goblet
Sheet music
Pipe
Still life
Red
Pink
Plum
White
Yellow
Brown
Black
Abstract

Collections

European Art before 1945

On View

On view

DescriptionThis is an oil and sand on canvas painting. An abstracted table, covered in a pink tablecloth, with objects on the tabletop. It is a flat and spare still life with a red background.

Label TextGeorges Braque French, 1882–1963 The Pink Tablecloth, 1933 Oil and sand on canvas Let us forget things and consider only the relationships between them. —Georges Braque In subjects like this still life, Georges Braque sought what he described as “that particular temperature at which objects become malleable” and begin to mimic and merge with one another, revealing their inherent harmonies. A mature Cubist work, The Pink Tablecloth creates such a poetic mood not only through its playful palette of pink, purple, and red, but also through a sequence of visual “rhymes.” For example, the large, meandering line in the right foreground is echoed in miniature in the snaky decoration on the goblet, and the toothy pattern of the tablecloth’s zigzagging edge is repeated on the wall behind. Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. 71.624