The Pink Tablecloth

In subjects like this still life, Georges Braque sought what he described as “that particular temperature at which objects become malleable” and begin to mimic and merge with one another, revealing their inherent harmonies. A mature Cubist work, The Pink Tablecloth creates such a poetic mood not only through its playful palette of pink, purple, and red, but also through a sequence of visual “rhymes.” For example, the large, meandering line in the right foreground is echoed in miniature in the snaky decoration on the goblet, and the toothy pattern of the tablecloth’s zigzagging edge is repeated on the wall behind.