Juan Gris, pioneer of Cubism, celebrated by Google doodle
Juan Gris is feted by Google today to mark the Spanish artist's birthday.
Juan Gris is feted by Google today to mark the Spanish artist's birthday. The Google home page features a Cubist reworking of the search engine's logo, including the guitars and fruits that were a common motif in paintings by Gris.
Born José Victoriano Carmelo Carlos González-Pérez in Madrid in 1887, Jaun Gris was a painter and sculptor who was instrumental in the development of Cubism.
Cubism involves deconstructing an object and reassembling them in an abstract form. Gris was a pioneer of the second phase of Cubism, known as synthetic Cubism, which introduced different textures and materials to paintings and collages. The surrealist art movement had its roots in Cubism, so here's a surrealist joke: how many surrealists does it take to change a lightbulb? Banana.
Gris lived in France most of his life, where he was friends with Matisse and Picasso. He painted in a wide range of colours forming ordered, angular arrangements. He died in 1927, aged just 40, and his painting Violon et guitare sold for £18m at Christie's in 2010.
The Google doodle is a fun remix of the Google logo that pops up on the search giant's famously minimal white home page to celebrate a special day. It could be a seasonal change the spring equinox, a public holiday or a special day like Valentine's Day, or the day of birth of innovators from the worlds of art and science, from Michelangelo to Marie Curie.
The best are informative as well as cheerful, helping us learn a little something about an hero of the past we may never have encountered otherwise.
Doodles take the form of a splash of playful art, an animated video or even a fun little game -- but with one thing in common: they're a welcome burst of sunshine from the Big G. Hit play on our video below to see our pick of the five best Google doodles ever:
Who's your favourite artist? Paint me a picture in the comments or on Facebook.