The Billiard Table is a magisterial example of the late style of Georges Braque. The canvas epitomises many of the qualities for which the French painter was revered in his lifetime: for example its subtle colour harmonies of greens, greys and browns, and its free use of line, plane and descriptive detail to evoke an interior scene. It is one of a series of seven paintings of a billiard table that Braque completed between 1944 and 1952. It is likely that he was partly drawn to this subject by the challenge of depicting the table's imposing architectural form without recourse to traditional perspective.