The Glass of Beer

Juan Gris's The Glass of Beer (1914) is a collage in oil, pasted papers, charcoal, pencil, and ink on canvas. This work belongs to the Synthetic Cubist period, when Gris, Picasso, and Braque were incorporating real materials into their works. The subject is a simple one: a glass of beer on a table. But Gris's treatment transforms this ordinary subject through the revolutionary techniques of collage. The pasted papers (papiers collés) bring the materials of everyday life into the work of art. The charcoal and pencil provide linear definition, the oil paint adds passages of color, and the ink adds accents. The composition is flattened and fragmented, the objects analyzed and reconstructed according to Cubist principles. The Glass of Beer is a masterwork of Synthetic Cubist collage, demonstrating the movement's ability to transform the humble subjects of everyday life into works of art that challenge the very definition of painting.

Gris's collages of 1914 are among the most important works of Synthetic Cubism, expanding the possibilities of art through the incorporation of real materials.

This collage of a glass of beer transforms an ordinary subject through the revolutionary technique of papier colle, the pasted papers and varied media creating a work that challenges the boundaries between art and everyday life.