Georges Braque’s artwork titled “The Round Table” was created in 1929 and is housed at the Philips Collection in Washington, DC, United States. The piece is an oil on canvas and measures 144.8 x 114 cm. As a representation of the Cubism and Expressionism movements, the artwork is a still life genre painting that showcases the distinct fragmentation and geometric reconstruction typical of the Cubist style.
The artwork presents a fragmented and abstracted arrangement of objects on a round table, depicted through a palette of muted earth tones complemented with subtle harmonies of colors. In the painting, one can discern various elements that suggest a still life setting, such as fruits, a newspaper, and what appear to be items of tableware, possibly a pitcher or cups — all characteristic of Braque’s interest in domestic environments and objects during his Cubist period. The varying textures and overlapping geometric shapes draw the viewer’s eye across the composition, which dismantles the conventional perspective and instead offers multiple viewpoints simultaneously. The table and objects are broken down into faceted planes, creating a sense of depth and space while also flattening the pictorial plane and emphasizing the canvas’s two-dimensionality, as explored by Cubist artists. Through the dynamic interplay of forms and the subtle tonal variations, Braque captures the essence of the objects and invites contemplation of their interrelationships within the composition.
