Juan Gris

Juan Gris suffered from illnesses like uremia, asthma and cardiac problems and on 11 May 1927 he died in the outskirts of Paris in an area called Boulogne-sur-Seine due to kidney failure.

Jose Victoriano Gonzalez Perez, better known as Juan Gris, was born on 23 March 1887 to Gregorio Gonzalez and Isabel Perez in Madrid, Spain. His father Gregorio was a successful and prosperous paper manufacturer. Juan Gris was the second youngest among fourteen children in the Gonzalez family.

In his early years Juan Gris was sent to the most well-known schools in his native city of Madrid and right from his childhood he showed a special interest in painting, as a result he went to the local art schools as well in order to learn the finer points of painting.

In 1902, Juan Gris took admission in Escuela de Artes y Manufacturas in Madrid and studied mechanical drawing till 1904. During this time, he made lot of humorous sketches which were published in various Madrid publications.

From 1904 to 1905, he studied painting under the guidance of the artist Jose Moreno Carbonero. In 1905, he adopted the name Juan Gris.

In 1906, he fled his country to avoid being called up for military service and moved to Paris, then the go to place for artists,. In Paris, Gris became acquainted with artists like Henri Matisse, Fernand Leger and the young Pablo Picasso.

In his early years in Paris, Gris sent his paintings to publications in Paris like Le Rire, Le Charivari and others for publication. The theme was dark humour.

After working for different magazines and publications in Paris for a few years; Juan Gris decided to devote more time to painting in his personal capacity, in 1910, and started developing his ideas in cubism.

In 1911, he produced the painting titled ‘Tea Time’ and the following year his painting ‘Hommage a Pablo Picasso’ was part of the exhibition at Salon des Independants.

In 1912, Juan Gris’ work was exhibited at some of the better known exhibition galleries in Europe which included Der Sturm in Berlin among others. Gris’ work was also appreciated at the Societe Normande de Peinture Moderne in Rouen. It was around this time that the elite art dealer Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler signed him up on an exclusive contract.

Juan Gris was one of the most important painters of all time who revolutionised the world of cubist art and over the course of his career he produced plenty of paintings that are still highly appreciated. Among his works, ‘Nature Morte a la Nappe a Carreaux’ or ‘The Checked Table Cloth’ was sold for a staggering $56.8 million at an auction at Christie’s in London, in 2014.