Still life with a red book

Canvas, oil.

Private collection.

In the mid-1920s, returning from America to Europe, Torres worked in different genres based on the principles of Cubism and partly Expressionism. A few still lifes are likely to be philosophical. The author selected “speaking” objects for the image – it is no coincidence that the book is highlighted in colour and location in the composition. Although the “top view” was chosen as the main point of the image, a number of objects were depicted “full face”. For example, the glass vessel looks much more expressive in this perspective.