The present work comes to auction with esteemed provenance, having been in the collects ion of Marina Picasso, the artist’s granddaughter. It comes to auction alongside a curated collects ion of early Picasso works, some of which date from pivotal years within the Cubist movement and others from the 1920s, a decade in which Picasso’s style underwent a radical change to reflect the Classical style demanded by the rappel a l’ordre.

In the combination of oil paint and the innovative use of sand to delineate the titular verre, Nature morte au verre is a remarkable example of Pablo Picasso’s Synthetic Cubism. Synthetic Cubism grew as a progression away from the esoteric configurations of Analytical Cubism. The introduction of colour through the warm red tones in the present composition is reflective of the movement’s shift towards a more playful visual vocabulary. Artists began to prefer compositions with a greater focus upon colour and form, whilst also incorporating mixed media. This experimental use of mixed media reflects the artist’s exploration of mediums in the papiers collés of 1912-14. In the years preceding the creation of the present work, Picasso had been working closely alongside Georges Braque to redefine the boundaries of artistic creation. Together they produced compositions that utilised readymade materials such as scraps of newspaper and various found objects. The granular and coarse texture of the sand within the present work juxtaposes the smooth painterly surface, creating an effect similar to Picasso’s papier-collé assemblages, whilst also providing an illusory element of trompe l'oeil that draws attention to the artifice of the image.

In Nature morte au verre, Picasso employs the signature strength of line and bold geometric planes that define his cubist arrangements. The still life motif is delineated using a combination of angular forms and soft arabesques to create a visually dynamic composition reflective of the rich creative environment the artist was working within. Nature morte au verre is both a bold declaration of Picasso’s place at the forefront of the artistic avant-garde, as well as demonstrating his roots within the history of Western art. Throughout the varying evolutions of Cubism, Picasso returned frequently to still life subjects as the focus of his compositions. The artist’s proclivity for the still life genre can be found in its rich history as a central tenet of academic painting. The artist was an ardent admirer of the works of the Spanish masters, including Goya and Velázquez, whilst also holding a strong regard for the more recent still life works of Paul Cézanne. Picasso’s choice to distort the still life subject using the visual language of abstraction reflects his desire to subvert the artistic canon and situate himself firmly within it. Nature morte au verre encourages the viewer to rethink the way in which art can present reality.