The artwork titled “Still life with lemon and oranges” was created by Pablo Picasso in 1936, exemplifying the influential Cubist art movement. With dimensions of 54 x 65 cm, this still life painting reveals the artist’s geometric dissection of form and revolutionary approach to representing objects in fragmented compositions.
Upon examining the artwork, one encounters a harmonious interplay of shapes and colors that fracture the conventional perception of space and form. The juxtaposition of citrus fruits, notably the lemon and oranges, alongside a goblet and other ambiguous geometric elements, results in a flattened pictorial space that is characteristic of Cubist art. The fragmentation of objects, another hallmark of Cubism, is evident in the overlapping and intersecting planes that suggest multiple viewpoints synthesizing into a single image. Shades of orange, green, brown, and white dominate the palette, punctuated with striking black outlines that delineate forms and contribute to the composition’s dynamic tension. The interlocking shapes create a rhythm that leads the viewer’s eye throughout the canvas, while light and shadow are subtly indicated, providing a semblance of depth in this otherwise plane-centric piece. Picasso’s adept use of color and innovative representation of everyday objects makes “Still life with lemon and oranges” a noteworthy example of Cubist still life painting, inviting contemplation of form and reality’s essence beyond surface appearances.
