Title: Deux Nus
Description: Deux Nus (Two Nudes, Two Women and Dones en un paisatge) is an early Cubist painting by the French artist and theorist Jean Metzinger. The work was exhibited at the first Cubist manifestation, in Room 41 of the 1911 Salon des Indépendants, Paris. At this exhibition the Cubist movement was effectively launched before the general public by five artists: Metzinger, Gleizes, Le Fauconnier, Delaunay and Léger. This was the first exhibition during which artists, writers, critics and the public at large encountered and spoke about Cubism. The result of the group show is a succès de scandale. The following year Metzinger's Deux Nus, titled Dones en un paisatge, was exhibited at Galeries J. Dalmau, Exposició d'Art Cubista, in Barcelona, 20 April through 10 May 1912 (cat. 45). This was the first avant-garde art exhibition in Spain. Judging from stylistic similarities with works such as Nu à la cheminée—exhibited in Paris at the Salon d'Automne of 1910—and the fact that Two Nudes was exhibited in the spring of 1911 (18 March - 1 May) at the Salon des Indépendants, the painting is believed to have been painted during the latter half of 1910 or the outset of 1911. Metzinger's Deux Nus (Two Women) is in the permanent collection of the Gothenburg Museum of Art (Göteborgs konstmuseum), Sweden.
Author(s): Jean Metzinger