The artwork titled “Glass and bottle of straw rum” was created by the esteemed artist Pablo Picasso in 1914. This still life painting is executed in oil on canvas, measuring 38 x 46 cm. It is a significant piece of the Synthetic Cubism movement, a period in Picasso’s career where he merged different shapes and textures to create complex compositions with a vivid sense of collage.
In the artwork, Picasso has depicted various objects including a glass, a bottle of straw rum, pieces of fruit, and what appear to be newspaper cuttings or pieces of paper, all skillfully arranged into a composite yet fragmented form. The composition shows the objects broken up and reassembled in an abstracted form, allowing multiple viewpoints to be presented simultaneously. The use of patterns and textures to differentiate elements suggests the influence of everyday materials, a characteristic trait of Synthetic Cubism. These textures and the incorporation of typographic elements mimic the appearance of collage, yet the entire scene is hand-painted. Through the fragmentation of objects and the integration of lettering and patterning, Picasso challenges the viewer’s perception of depth and reality, compelling them to piece together the scene from the overlapping and intersecting planes.
