Friend of Pablo Picasso, Juan Gris (1887 - 1927) was a Spaniard from the Paris school. He is considered a pioneer of cubism. Unlike Picasso, his work did not evolve outside of cubism, which he raised to a high degree of classicism, like Georges Braque. The theme of still life had its preference over other subjects.

His life was short-lived, which perhaps explains why his work has evolved little apart from cubism, which he approached first in an analytical and then synthetic spirit, following the two leaders of the movement, Picasso and Braque. Like Picasso, Juan Gris escaped the Great War because he was Spanish and therefore of neutral nationality. He settled in the Pyrenees and then in Touraine, his wife's native region.

Painter theorist, and hard worker, Juan Gris is prevented by his health problems. Suffering from lung problems, he died in 1927 at 40.