“The Packet of Cigars” is an artwork crafted with oil on canvas by the artist Juan Gris in the year 1912. Measuring 22 by 28 centimeters, it represents the Analytical Cubism art movement and is categorized as a still life genre. Currently, this artwork is part of a private collection.
The artwork displays a fragmented composition, typical of the analytical cubist style, where objects are broken up, analyzed, and reassembled in an abstracted form. In this still life, various elements such as a packet of cigars, a glass, and what appears to be a bottle and a pipe are depicted. Gris employs a restrained palette that leans heavily on ochres, blacks, and grays, with subtle touches of color, emphasizing the geometric shapes and flat, intersecting planes that characterize the cubist approach to form. The objects appear to be analyzed from multiple viewpoints and then synthesized onto a single plane, challenging the conventional perspective and inviting viewers to interpret the composition actively. Despite the abstraction, the work retains a sense of order, with the circular composition providing structural balance.
