At the Met in New York, bridges between the Cubists and the ancient tradition of trompe-l’oeil

Cubist painters and artists such as Picasso, who revolutionized the art world, were inspired by a centuries-old tradition, that of trompe-l’oeil, reveals a new exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

“Cubism is a radical art movement (…), the most innovative of the 20th century. But what we found is that (Georges) Braque, (Pablo) Picasso and (Juan) Gris”, its initiators, ” they were in direct dialogue with the old masters from the sixteenth century to the end of the nineteenth century, “the co-curator of the exhibition, Emily Braun, professor of art history at Hunter College in New York, explains to AFP.

The most striking sign of this inspiration is found through a violin and sheet music painting found in the 17th century Flemish painter Cornelis Norbertus Gijsbrechts, then in the American William Harnett (1848-1892) and finally in Braque and Picasso in a much more so unstructured. Each work in his way gives an illusion of perspective using the trompe-l’oeil technique.

Braque and Picasso were known to play with newspaper excerpts in their paintings and collages to question the notion of truth.

“You will see in this exhibition trompe-l’oeil still lifes from the end of the 17th century, in which newspapers are already present, among the first printed newspapers,” continues Emily Braun. According to her, “with the invention of printing (in the seventeenth century, ed), opinions, publishing, information are part of everyday life and people begin to question their veracity”.

The Cubism and the Trompe-l’oeil Tradition exhibition, which opens on Thursday, features around 100 works from the Met and museums around the world, as well as private collections. The Met Museum thus participates in the fiftieth anniversary of the death of Pablo Picasso (in 1973 in Mougins, in the south of France), which must mobilize many cultural institutions in Europe and the United States.

“It’s a way to say something new about Picasso, we’ve never seen his work like this before. The way he plays with us and with the representation is part of this ancient tradition” of trompe-l eye, adds the co-curator.