Georges Braque – Citrons (1939)

There’s a kind of beauty that doesn’t shout. It doesn’t seek to impress with theatrics but imposes itself slowly, with the depth of its presence. This is the kind of beauty that lives in the works of Georges Braque, and Citrons (1939) is one of its finest examples. In this small yet extraordinary oil on canvas, the French artist — Cubism’s co-founder and a key innovator of 20th-century art — distills his pictorial research into a poetic and powerfully tactile composition.

Braque’s mature language

By the late 1930s, Braque had moved away from Cubism’s early analytic deconstructions. His painting became more meditative, more intimate. Still life became his main field of exploration, a space for reflecting on form, light, and time. In Citrons, two lemons rest on a dark, nearly theatrical background, accompanied by sparse leaves and branches. The composition is essential, yet every element is precisely calibrated.

Braque’s thick, sculptural brushstrokes give body and density to the objects. The vibrant yellow of the lemons contrasts powerfully with the earthy backdrop, creating a striking sense of three-dimensionality. Braque invites us to see the everyday as eternal, the simple as absolute.

Silent symbolism

The choice of lemons is anything but random. Braque often used ordinary objects, deliberately stripped of mythic aura, to create timeless icons. His painting doesn’t aim to narrate but to evoke. Citrons does not describe a story — it builds a presence.

This transformation of the ordinary into the absolute is precisely what makes the work resonate with such timeless power.

Prestigious provenance

Citrons boasts exceptional provenance:

• Paul Rosenberg & Co., one of the most influential galleries of the 20th century, closely linked to Cubist and Modernist masters like Picasso and Braque.

• An important Italian private collection, confirming the enduring relevance of the work.

The painting is also listed in the catalogue raisonné by Nicole S. Mangin (1961), providing essential authentication and documentation within Braque’s body of work.

A rare piece in a rising market

Braque’s market has grown by +56% over the past three years, with particular interest in his mature-period still lifes. Comparable works have achieved impressive results:

• Les Citrons (1955), sold by Christie’s in 2021 for €279,492.

Les Citrons (1952), sold by Grisebach in 2022 for €290,000.

These figures confirm a strong, sustained interest in Braque’s still lifes, especially those that balance formal refinement with emotional weight.