
Not on display
- Artist
- Georges Braque 1882–1963
- Original title
- Le Billard
- Medium
- Oil paint and sand on canvas
- Dimensions
- Support: 891 × 1163 × 22 mm
frame: 1176 × 1443 × 113 mm - Collection
- Tate
- Acquisition
- Purchased with assistance from the gift of Gustav and Elly Kahnweiler, the Art Fund, Tate Members and the Dr V.J. Daniel Bequest 2003
- Reference
- T07992
Summary
The Billiard Table is a magisterial example of the late style of Georges Braque. With its subtle, and characteristic, colour harmonies of greens, greys and browns, and its free use of line, plane and descriptive detail evoking an interior scene, the canvas epitomises many of the qualities for which the French painter was revered in his lifetime.
It is one of a series of seven paintings on the subject of a billiard table. The series was begun in 1944, possibly after the liberation of Paris in August. Certainly, the sheer boldness and playfulness of the series stands in marked contrast to the typically more sober and smaller works that Braque executed during the years of the German occupation. The series consists of three large paintings (in the collections of the Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and the Museo de Arte Contemporanea, Caracas), this medium-sized work and three smaller and less ambitious canvases. It is likely that Braque was partly drawn to tackle this subject by the challenge of depicting the imposing architectural form of a billiard table without recourse to traditional perspective.
The partially folded billiard table in the foreground dominates this complex composition, which is filled with decorative elements such as detailed panelling and a colourful abacus in the background. Ornate lamps hang above the table. On the left a straw boater, scarf and curving line suggestive of shoulders – perhaps a coat hung over a chair – create an anthropomorphic presence. The presence of lettering, which could be read as ‘La loi sur l’ivresse’ (Law against drunkenness), distantly evokes the interior of a billiard hall and recalls the snippets of words, and wordplays, found in Braque’s and Picasso’s early cubist works.
The freedom to invent and to depart from realism was central to Braque’s approach to painting. Although he worked out the basic details of his compositions in preliminary drawings, he liked to describe his working method as being based on pictorial discoveries. ‘I never know how it will come out. The picture makes itself work under the brush’, he said. ‘A picture is an adventure each time.’ (Quoted in Chipp 1982, p.22.)
Further reading
Braque: Oeuvres de Georges Braque (1882-1963), exhibition catalogue, Musée national d’art moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris 1982, pp.134-7, reproduced p.137
Herschel B. Chipp, Georges Braque: The Late Paintings 1940-1963, exhibition catalogue, Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C., 1982, reproduced p.55 in colour
Jennifer Mundy, ‘Georges Braque’, in Jennifer Mundy (ed.), Cubism and its Legacy: The Gift of Gustav and Elly Kahnweiler, exhibition catalogue, Tate Modern, London 2004, pp.28-30, reproduced p.29 in colour
Jennifer Mundy
December 2003
Revised by Giorgia Bottinelli
June 2004
It is one of a series of seven paintings on the subject of a billiard table. The series was begun in 1944, possibly after the liberation of Paris in August. Certainly, the sheer boldness and playfulness of the series stands in marked contrast to the typically more sober and smaller works that Braque executed during the years of the German occupation. The series consists of three large paintings (in the collections of the Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and the Museo de Arte Contemporanea, Caracas), this medium-sized work and three smaller and less ambitious canvases. It is likely that Braque was partly drawn to tackle this subject by the challenge of depicting the imposing architectural form of a billiard table without recourse to traditional perspective.
The partially folded billiard table in the foreground dominates this complex composition, which is filled with decorative elements such as detailed panelling and a colourful abacus in the background. Ornate lamps hang above the table. On the left a straw boater, scarf and curving line suggestive of shoulders – perhaps a coat hung over a chair – create an anthropomorphic presence. The presence of lettering, which could be read as ‘La loi sur l’ivresse’ (Law against drunkenness), distantly evokes the interior of a billiard hall and recalls the snippets of words, and wordplays, found in Braque’s and Picasso’s early cubist works.
The freedom to invent and to depart from realism was central to Braque’s approach to painting. Although he worked out the basic details of his compositions in preliminary drawings, he liked to describe his working method as being based on pictorial discoveries. ‘I never know how it will come out. The picture makes itself work under the brush’, he said. ‘A picture is an adventure each time.’ (Quoted in Chipp 1982, p.22.)
Further reading
Braque: Oeuvres de Georges Braque (1882-1963), exhibition catalogue, Musée national d’art moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris 1982, pp.134-7, reproduced p.137
Herschel B. Chipp, Georges Braque: The Late Paintings 1940-1963, exhibition catalogue, Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C., 1982, reproduced p.55 in colour
Jennifer Mundy, ‘Georges Braque’, in Jennifer Mundy (ed.), Cubism and its Legacy: The Gift of Gustav and Elly Kahnweiler, exhibition catalogue, Tate Modern, London 2004, pp.28-30, reproduced p.29 in colour
Jennifer Mundy
December 2003
Revised by Giorgia Bottinelli
June 2004
Does this text contain inaccurate information or language that you feel we should improve or change? We would like to hear from you.
Display caption
Opie’s mother, Mary Tonkin, was 48 when he was born in 1761. She had married Edward Opie (or Oppy) in 1747. It was his second marriage. Although contemporaries stressed Opie’s ‘lowly’ origins, his mother’s family were landowners. Their property included mines and the harbour at Trevaunance Cove, Cornwall. Mary Opie served as the model for her son’s painting of The School Mistress, on display nearby.
Gallery label, October 2019
Does this text contain inaccurate information or language that you feel we should improve or change? We would like to hear from you.
Explore
- abstraction(8,612)
-
- from recognisable sources(3,632)
-
- man-made(999)
- recreational activities(2,833)
-
- billiards(8)
- clothing and personal items(5,873)
- hat stand(4)
- light / lamp(263)
- abacus(3)
You might like
-
Pierre Bonnard The Table
1925 -
Georges Braque The Bird
1949 -
Jean Metzinger Woman with a Coffee Pot
1919 -
Georges Braque Bottle and Fishes
c.1910–12 -
Georges Braque Mandora
1909–10 -
Meraud Guevara Seated Woman with Small Dog
c.1939 -
Georges Braque Glass on a Table
1909–10 -
Jean Hélion Nude with Loaves
1952 -
André Masson Pedestal Table in the Studio
1922 -
André Masson Star, Winged Being, Fish
1955 -
Boris Taslitzky Riposte
1951 -
André Fougeron The Cock Fighters
1950 -
André Fougeron Return from the Market
1953 -
Boris Taslitzky Study for ‘The Death of Danielle Casanova’
1949 -
Balthus (Balthasar Klossowski de Rola) Nude on a Chaise Longue
1950