The artwork “Plate and Fruit Dish” by Georges Braque is an oil on canvas painting completed in 1908 in France, exemplifying the Cubist movement. The still life occupies dimensions of 46 x 55 cm and is currently held in a private collection. This piece reflects the innovative and influential direction of Cubism, a movement co-founded by Braque and characterized by its fragmentation of objects and use of geometric shapes.
In the artwork, Braque disassembles and reassembles a conventional still life, challenging the viewer’s perception of depth and form. The composition revolves around a central fruit dish, which is filled with grapes. To the left of the fruit dish, the form of a plate is suggested by overlapping and intersecting planes. Near the foreground, pear-like shapes are depicted in a way that implies volume through shading, yet their outlines contribute to the flatness of the canvas. Throughout the painting, the muted color palette is punctuated by areas of light and dark, which serve to create a sense of depth amidst the flattened space. Braque’s manipulation of perspective and light is emblematic of the early analytical phase of Cubism, where the essence of the three-dimensional world is captured in a two-dimensional representation.
