Nu au guéridon
60 x 49 cm
Acrylic on canvas
Nu au guéridon is an abstracted nude composition in which the human figure is constructed through a system of intersecting planes, fragmented volumes, and geometric structuring. Rather than presenting the body as a continuous form, the painting reorganises it into a series of angular segments that unfold across the surface.
The figure is positioned within an interior setting suggested by a small table (guéridon) and surrounding structural elements, though these are not depicted in a conventional spatial manner. Instead, body and environment interpenetrate, creating a unified pictorial field where foreground and background collapse into one another.
The palette is built around strong contrasts—deep blacks, muted neutrals, and blocks of saturated red and blue—balanced by areas of pale tone and exposed ground. These colour relationships guide the eye through the composition while reinforcing its underlying structure.
While the composition is governed by a precise internal organisation, the visual experience remains dynamic. Forms appear to shift, overlap, and reassemble, generating a sense of movement within a fixed frame. The painting operates less as a depiction of a figure in space than as a constructed system of relationships between line, colour, and volume.
Mathias approaches the work through what he describes as a reverse jigsaw logic: starting from a figurative view of reality, then breaking it apart and reorganising it to produce a new way of seeing. What remains is not anatomical accuracy, but a structured interpretation of presence and form.
Relationship to Other Works
The nude is a recurring subject within Mathias’s practice, explored alongside landscapes, architecture, and literary portraits. Across these themes, the same principles of fragmentation and recomposition are applied, allowing different subjects to be treated through a consistent structural language.
Collector’s Insight
Rooted in the European post-Cubist lineage of Metzinger and Juan Gris, and extending toward the structural figuration of Gromaire and Zadkine, Mathias’s work privileges construction over illustration. Across his practice—often through his diachronic cubist approach—time and perception are embedded within structure rather than narrated. In this work, that method is applied to the human figure, where multiple spatial viewpoints and moments of perception coexist within a single composition.
Perfect For
1-Collectors
– Modern and post-Cubist painting
– European modern and contemporary art
– Figurative abstraction
2-Interior Designers & Architects
– Medium-format works for living rooms, bedrooms, or private spaces
– Interiors incorporating bold colour accents (red, blue, black)
– Contemporary settings with geometric or structured design elements
Keywords
Greg Mathias, cubist nude painting, modern abstract figure, geometric nude art, post cubist painting, European modern art, figurative abstraction, acrylic on canvas, modern interior figure painting
About the artist:
Grégoire Mathias...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Cubist Randall Berndt Art
