Still Life with a Vichy Bottle and a Glass

At the outset of World War I, Emil Filla fled to the neutral−declared Netherlands, which had an immediate impact on his painting. The artist placed new emphasis on the substance of the painting, whose colour construction and spatial arrangement underwent change. To a large degree, this shift was effected by his study of the Dutch masters of the 17th century. Still−life with Bottle of Vichy and Glass is a typical drawing of his Dutch period. It is characterized by a simplification of both the subject matter and the compositional arrangement. Only two objects are depicted here, featured in the very centre of the picture, surrounded by rectangular, oblique and rounded planes. The tension between the abstract forms and the representative world is augmented by the use of collage – a rare technique in Filla’s work. The artist co−related the emphasis on objectivity and representation, discernible in this image, with the spiritual qualities of artistic creativity.