Pablo Picasso is best known as one of the founders of the Cubist art movement. He worked in a variety of artistic styles. "Fruit Bowl & Guitar" is representative of a period in his work often categorized as Analytical Cubism.
Period
It is believed that Picasso created "Fruit Bowl & Guitar" between 1927 and 1929. By this time, he had been working alternately, and sometimes controversially, in two styles for several years. In addition to continuing to explore Cubism in paintings, he also was working in a classical manner. Some of his paintings combined elements of both.
Style Considerations
Picasso did not want the different styles he used to be viewed as steps in his evolution as an artist. Instead, he said, he allowed the subjects he chose to dictate how they should be painted. "Fruit Bowl & Guitar" is essentially a Cubist still-life.
Life Influences
"Fruit Bowl & Guitar" was painted at a time when Picasso was experiencing a fame he did not enjoy. His wife Olga, a former ballet dancer who thrived on the public's admiration, could not understand Picasso's discomfort with his notoriety. In 1927, Picasso began an affair with Marie-Therese Walter, his son Paolo's 17-year-old nurse, and he and his wife eventually separated.
