1936, Georges Braque, Vase, paletter et mandoline (Vase, Palette, and Mandolin) -- San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
From the museum label: When Braque returned to art making after World War I, he focused on interior scenes and developed a grand manner of still-life painting that culminated in densely packed compositions such as this. The artist said that he was "preoccupied by materials," which he felt offered as much to respond to as any thematic aspect of a picture. In this explosion of abstract patterns and decorative marks, Braque's cubist style remains visible—for example, in the playfully overlapping planes and fragmented text—but there are also nods to Surrealism, most notably in the mandolin, whose sagging neck droops limply off the table.
1936, Georges Braque, Vase, paletter et mandoline (Vase, Palette, and Mandolin) -- San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
From the museum label: When Braque returned to art making after World War I, he focused on interior scenes and developed a grand manner of still-life painting that culminated in densely packed compositions such as this. The artist said that he was "preoccupied by materials," which he felt offered as much to respond to as any thematic aspect of a picture. In this explosion of abstract patterns and decorative marks, Braque's cubist style remains visible—for example, in the playfully overlapping planes and fragmented text—but there are also nods to Surrealism, most notably in the mandolin, whose sagging neck droops limply off the table.