The Kitchen Garden at La Brunié

1941

The Kitchen Garden at La Brunié, 1941. Jacques Villon (French, 1875–1963). Oil on canvas; unframed: 65 x 92 cm (25 9/16 x 36 1/4 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. Fund 1964.95 © Artists Right Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris In this view of a distant kitchen garden, nature has been transformed into an intersecting network of abstract, geometric forms. Diagonal lines suggesting roads and fields in the foreground converge on the long, horizontal garden structure and tall trees in the distance. Transparent planes of prismatic color infuse the entire composition with dynamic energy. The artist was member of the Puteaux or Section d’Or (Golden Section) Cubists, who based their compositions on principles of scientific color theory and mathematics. Born Guston Duchamp, Jacques Villon was the brother of three artists: Raymond Duchamp-Villon, Marcel Duchamp, and Suzanne Duchamp-Crotti.