Juan Gris (1887 – 1927) was a Spanish painter and sculptor who lived and worked in France most of his life. He is best known for his cubist paintings.
Juan Gris was born in Madrid, Spain, on March 23, 1887. When he was six years old, his family moved to Barcelona. In 1902, at the age of fifteen, he enrolled in the Barcelona Academy of Fine Arts. Three years later he moved to Paris, where he continued his studies at the Académie Julian.
In 1910, Gris began to experiment with cubism, a new style of painting that was developed by artists Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque. Cubism is characterized by the use of geometric shapes and patterns to create an abstract image. Gris’s cubist paintings often featured still lifes with everyday objects, such as bottles, pipes, and books.
In 1915, Gris met the French painter Marcel Duchamp, who introduced him to the American art collector Léonce Rosenberg. Rosenberg began buying Gris’s paintings and helped to promote his work.
In the 1920s, Gris continued to develop his unique style of cubism. He also began to experiment with sculpture, creating works made from materials such as sheet metal, wire, and papier-mâché.
Gris died of cancer in Paris on May 11, 1927, at the age of forty. His work has since been exhibited in major museums around the world, and he is considered one of the most important artists of the cubist movement.
