Matisse and the Sea
February 17–may 12, 2024, entrance in taylor hall.
I have always adored the sea. -Henri Matisse, 1952
Henri Matisse (1869-1954) was fascinated by the sea throughout his career. He was drawn to its color and changing light, and saw it as a metaphor for travel and new experiences. Matisse produced a wide range of work around France influenced by the Mediterranean and Atlantic coasts. He also went abroad to France’s colonies, including French Polynesia located in the Pacific Ocean, where he found new inspiration for his marine subjects.
Matisse’s images of the sea range from early panoramic vistas to his late paper cut-outs in which he represented life beneath the waves. A devoted swimmer, repeatedly focused on the theme of the bather, as in the celebrated Bathers with a Turtle . In sculpture, Matisse portrayed the female form in a variety of poses. His Blue Nudes paper cut-outs feature female bathers placed within the context of organic marine motifs. Over time, Matisse moved toward greater abstraction and patter in his work.
Matisse’s travels encouraged him to acquire art from different cultures. Today it is important to consider the power dynamic of Matisse’s and other artists who traveled as French citizens to French colonies. Matisse found inspiration in the art made by African and Oceanic artists. However, he also shared uniformed attitudes typical among Europeans at the time regarding the original context and function of that artwork. By exploring his marine imagery, this exhibition presents the global scope of Matisse’s sources, and his ability to convey the beauty of the sea in multiple artistic forms.
Auguste Lumière, French, 1862–1954, and Louis Lumière, French, 1864–1948
Film Lumière, no. 87: Rochers de la Vierge (Biarritz) , 1896
duration: 50 seconds, looped
In this film, swelling waves crash against rocks at Biarritz on the southwestern Atlantic coast of France. This is one of the earliest films produced by the pioneering Lumière brothers, who are often credited as the inventors of the medium. Matisse was always interested in film and probably knew such motion pictures. Similar effects of movement are evoked in his painting, particularly his early seascapes.
From Brittany to the Mediterranean Coast: The Early Years
Matisse’s early images of the sea date from the mid-1890s and illustrate his fascination with the islands and ports around France. Matisse was born in the weaving town of Le Cateau-Cambresis in the nation’s industrial northeast. This inland location probably encouraged the artist’s attraction to the dramatic coastline of his native country.
From 1895 to 1897, Matisse regularly visited Brittany on the west coast of France, staying on the island of Belle-Ile. Here, his palette moved from muted tones to bright, unmixed colors. In 1898 he traveled to the Mediterranean Sea for the first time, painting on the French island of Corsica for nearly six months. He was intoxicated by the light of the Mediterranean, and retained a love for the luminosity of southern France until his death.
Perhaps the most important coastal location for Matisse in his early decades was the small fishing port of Collioure in southwestern France, some 15 miles north of the Spanish border. Matisse first painted there in the summer of 1905 and returned repeatedly until 1914. It was at Collioure that Matisse initiated his most radical experiments with color, abandoning naturalism and instead using color for its expressive potential. Matisse’s innovations led one critic to label him and his followers as ”fauves” or ”wild beasts.”
Henri Matisse, French, 1869–1954
Le Palais, Belle-Île , 1896 oil on canvas
Matisse captured the vivid hues of sardine fishing boats in the harbor of Le Palais on Belle-Île, an island off the southern coast of Brittany. In the distance is a fortification, known as Vauban’s Citadel, which continues to dominate the harbor today. This was one of Matisse’s first paintings to adopt what he described as a palette of “rainbow colors.” Note the line of red along the side of the boat in the foreground. Matisse spent three summers in Brittany during the mid-1890s.
Dixon Gallery and Gardens, Bequest of Mr. and Mrs. Hugo N. Dixon 1975.15 2024.49
Small Olive Tree (Corsican Landscape) , 1898 oil on canvas
This marine view represents the French island of Corsica, which Matisse visited for six months in the spring and summer of 1898. It marks the artist’s first visit to the Mediterranean, where he was deeply impressed by its intense light. The red roofs of a factory, whose chimney is painted over, complement the silvery greens of a silhouetted olive tree. Sunshine shimmers on the distant bay. Matisse marveled at the sea’s color, once noting that it was “blue, blue, blue, so blue that you want to eat it.”
Private Collection, United States 2024.23
Louis Valtat, French, 1869–1952
Garden at Anthéor in Spring , 1902 oil on canvas
The painter Louis Valtat, a colleague of Matisse, was fascinated by the light of the south of France. This canvas shows a view out to sea at Anthéor, a village 20 miles east of St. Tropez on the Mediterranean Coast. Valtat worked in the Neo-Impressionist style that Matisse also employed at this time, evoking intense and shimmering light through built-up dots of paint. The garden in the foreground is the artist’s own, and the woman at bottom right is probably his wife, Suzanne.
Private Collection, United States 2024.27
Henri Matisse, French, 1869-1954
Collioure (La Moulade) , 1906 oil on panel
During his repeated stays at Collioure in the south of France, Matisse often took walks along the coastline. He was particularly drawn to a rocky outcrop just to the north of the port, known as La Moulade. Here, he represented the cliff face in shades of salmon pink and mauve, and the sea in ultramarine, light blue, green, turquoise, and purple. Short, dabbed brushstrokes were used to suggest the movement of the waves and the play of light. Matisse probably made this work outdoors, perhaps on the top of his paint box.
Private Collection, United States 2024.24
Collioure Landscape , 1905 reed pen and India ink on Canson watermarked wove paper
This pen and ink drawing by Matisse shows a group of fishing boats pulled up onto the shores of the Port d’Avall in Collioure, France. According to the artist, he made some 100 drawings of the village and its surroundings during the summer of 1905. In contrast to his paintings and watercolors, which highlighted his explorations of color and light, these line drawings often illustrate the lively activity of the bustling port—one of the busiest on the Mediterranean coast.
Musée Matisse Nice, Bequest of Madame Henri Matisse, 1960, Musée Matisse Nice, Inv. no.: 63.2.49 2024.44
The Red Beach , about 1905 oil on canvas
The waves of a turquoise and azure sea lap against the shore of a red-toned beach in this painting by Matisse. Like the watercolor of the same subject on view nearby, the artist depicted fishing boats docked at the Port d’Avall in Collioure, France. A fishing net is laid on the beach to the right. Matisse experimented with different colors for the beach and found the non-naturalistic red most effective in his composition, perhaps because it complements the greens of the sea.
Private Collection, PO 142 2024.53
Sailboats at Collioure , 1905 watercolor
Fishing boats line the beach in this luminous watercolor by Matisse. While working in the small village of Collioure in the south of France in 1905, Matisse focused on “making my colors sing, without paying any heed to the rules and regulations.” This radical approach is visible in the rich salmon pinks and reds of the beach. The work probably preceded a similar painting, The Red Beach , on view nearby, in which Matisse further intensified his tones.
Private Collection, United States 2024.25
André Derain, French, 1880–1954
Boats at Collioure , 1905 watercolor
In this seascape by André Derain, billowing sails appear in translucent shades of pink, yellow, and orange. These pastel tones contrast with sinuous lines and staccato dashes of color applied throughout the composition. Derain traveled to the fishing village of Collioure in the south of France at Matisse’s suggestion in the summer of 1905. The two artists worked alongside each other, often painting the beach and fishing boats at the Port d’Avall, as seen here. Their work from this period is defined by its intense, non-naturalistic color, inspired by southern light.
Private Collection, United States 2024.26
Paul Signac, French, 1863–1935 printed by Auguste Clot, French, 1858–1936 published by Ambroise Vollard, French, 1867–1939
The Port of St. Tropez , 1897–98 lithograph
Paul Signac depicted the old port of St. Tropez, located in the south of France, with warmly lit buildings and sailboats reflected in the shimmering water of the harbor. To emphasize the vibrant light and color of the region, Signac used dots of pure pigment, allowing the viewer’s eye to optically mix the tones. Signac’s work was influential to a young Matisse; in fact, it was Signac who encouraged him to visit the Mediterranean coast and paint the sea in the early 1900s.
Saint Louis Art Museum, Museum Purchase 76:1973
Collioure: A Constellation of Influences
Matisse stayed at the fishing village of Collioure from spring 1906 until fall 1907, his longest period spent there. This time was one of significant experimentation; he worked in a variety of media, including painting, sculpture, and printmaking. Matisse produced increasingly radical artwork at Collioure, in which he began to explore the possibilities of abstraction. He also examined aspects of human sexuality, gender, and race often controversial at that time.
Various artistic influences informed Matisse’s open-minded and eclectic approach. His representation of the human body responded to a wide range of avant-garde artwork, including that of fellow French artists Paul Gauguin and Paul Cezanne. Matisse was also inspired by his older friend, the artist Aristide Maillol, who lived nearby. Additionally, the impact of sub-Saharan African sculpture was particularly important. Matisse admired these artworks for their stylized abstraction and ”invented planes and proportions,” in contrast to the tradition of European photographic naturalism in which he had trained.
A 1907 photograph of Matisse’s Collioure studio shows the artist with his wife, Amelie, and daughter, Marguerite. In the background is a significant painting, Le Luxe I , and the clay model of the sculpture, Two Women . The bronze version of this sculpture is on view in this gallery.
Paul Cezanne, French, 1839–1906
Bathers , 1890–92 oil on canvas
A group of male bathers relaxes alongside a riverbank. All are naked, with the exception of a single figure who wears trunks. The scene was inspired by Paul Cezanne’s memories of bathing as a young man in Provence in the south of France. His range of poses and gestures for his nudes was influential on Matisse, who described the elder artist as “a sort of god.” The standing and seated forms at left resemble the figures in Matisse’s nearby Music (Sketch) .
Saint Louis Art Museum, Funds given by Mrs. Mark C. Steinberg 2:1956
Music (Sketch) , spring–summer 1907 oil and charcoal on canvas
Set within an indeterminate and abstracted landscape, a group of people enjoys the music of a violin. Farthest from the viewer are two figures locked in a passionate embrace as they dance. In the foreground, a crouching nude sits pensively, absorbed by the instrument’s sounds. Matisse explored lesbianism as well as gender fluidity in this work—the violinist seems to be masculine-presenting but is portrayed without male genitalia. Through its ambiguous figures, limited color palette, and simplified background, Music (Sketch) notably anticipates Matisse’s later compositions of bathers.
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of A. Conger Goodyear in honor of Alfred H. Barr, Jr., 1962 2024.11
Collioure in August , about 1911 oil on canvas
Collioure in August was painted some six years after Matisse first visited this village. It shows a panoramic view from the west in the heat of summer. Red roofs complement the green trees, and the ultramarine blue of the bay offsets the dominant sandy-yellow tones. In the center is the village’s 17th-century church with its distinctive bell tower, which once functioned as a lighthouse (see image). Matisse abstracted this landscape by flattening the space into discrete blocks of color.
Summit Trust Geneva for the Sidarta Collection 2024.35
Two Women , about 1908 bronze
In Matisse’s only sculpture to include more than one figure, two women share a close embrace. Their bodies are purposely exaggerated, with stocky legs, elongated arms, and swelling bellies, breasts, and buttocks. The taller of the two figures displays an extended cylindrical neck similar to those seen in sub-Saharan African sculptures, such as the Bamana Jomooniw Male and Female Figures on view in this case. Despite its present title, Matisse referred to the sculpture as Two Negresses , thereby affirming a connection with an African physique.
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Harold T. Clark 1957.144 2024.10
Bamana artist, Mali
Jomooniw Male and Female Figures , late 19th–early 20th century wood, metal
This pair looks similar from the front, but when viewed from the side, their differences become more obvious. The male figure, with knees slightly bent and wearing a hat, appears more static than the female, who is taller and more dynamic, as her body twists and leans backward. Together, they played an important role in Jo society initiation rituals, and could be washed or decorated by participants during ceremonies.
Private Collection, France 2024.04.1,.2
Bathers , 1909 oil on paperboard
In this painting, André Derain depicted a group of female bathers, either reclining or standing. Much like his friend Matisse, Derain was influenced by the bathers of Paul Cezanne during the early years of the 1900s. The pyramidal composition seen here, as well as the variously posed figures, reflect the impact of Cezanne, who had a significant retrospective in Paris in 1907. Unlike his earlier works, Derain shifted away from the Fauvist movement’s use of vivid colors in favor of a darker, more muted palette for this canvas.
Private Collection, United States 2024.28
Senufo artist, Côte d’Ivoire
Divination Figure ( tugu ) , late 19th–early 20th century wood
A Senufo sculptor from northern Côte d’Ivoire, West Africa, carved this female figure. It consists of alternating rounded and geometrically angular forms, creating a visually striking profile. Originally paired with a male partner, it would have been displayed during divination rituals to attract nature spirits. The accomplished execution of this sculpture suggests it once belonged to a particularly distinguished diviner, who offered healing and guidance to the community. It may have become part of Matisse’s personal art collection as early as 1909.
Private Collection, France 2024.03
Punu artist, Gabon
Mask ( mukudj ) for the Okuyi Society , late 19th–early 20th century wood, kaolin, pigment
Worn by a male performer who danced on stilts, this mask was meant to embody an idealized female ancestor in southern Gabon in West Central Africa. Instead of covering the face, it sat on top of the head and projected forward. White kaolin clay was applied to the face, while the hairstyle is historically documented from the late 19th century. When first brought to Europe, the abstracted features were sometimes incorrectly suggested as having Asian origins. Such objects probably influenced Matisse, who would have seen a similar mask in Pablo Picasso’s studio.
Saint Louis Art Museum, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Alvin S. Novack 542:1956
Fang artist, Gabon
Reliquary Head ( angokh nlo byeri ) , late 19th–early 20th century wood, brass
This sculptural head would have been placed at the top of a container which housed relics such as skulls and long bones. The wood surface has been covered repeatedly by palm oil libations. Matisse owned comparable sculptures, and their geometric features—such as the circular, studded eyes and triangular nose seen here—probably influenced the French artist’s abstracting approach to facial forms.
Saint Louis Art Museum, Gift of The May Department Stores Company 58:1966
Seated Nude [Small Light Woodcut] , 1906 woodcut
The curvaceous lines of a reclining woman contrast with the pattern of short strokes behind her. The work is one of four woodcuts produced by Matisse in 1906, all of which illustrate nude figures. The sharp angles and lines in this example suggest the influence of the abstracted, planar forms of sub-Saharan African sculpture. Indeed, Matisse purchased his first African sculpture the same year he created this woodcut.
Saint Louis Art Museum, The Sidney S. and Sadie Cohen Print Purchase Fund 26:1967
Aristide Maillol, French, 1861–1944
Crouching Woman with Crab , about 1900–04, cast by 1924 bronze
Squatting on a patch of ground, a nude woman examines a scurrying crab. During the early 1900s, Aristide Maillol was friends with Matisse, who admired the elder artist’s experimental and innovative approach to the representation of the female body. This sculpture by Maillol, likely seen by Matisse in Collioure, may have influenced the crouching figure in his painting Bathers with a Turtle , on view in the next gallery.
Lent by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Bequest of Scofield Thayer, 1982, 1984.433.35 2024.48
Sleeping Nude , early 20th century red chalk
A sleeping woman lounges on her side in this drawing by Aristide Maillol. Throughout his career, Maillol consistently focused on the female body, often treating women as symbolic forms relating to nature and the sea. Though the reclining woman seen here is not placed in any recognizable location, her figure resembles the bathers seen in idyllic landscape settings in paintings of the early 1900s, including works by Matisse. Matisse owned similar red chalk sketches by Maillol and used them as models for his students.
Saint Louis Art Museum, Museum Purchase 205:1946
The Wave , 1895–98 woodcut
A dark-haired woman reclines against a rock as a wave swirls alongside her. A leading sculptor, painter, and printmaker, Aristide Maillol frequently depicted the female nude in his works. His model here is his own wife, Clotilde. The rippling patterns forming the ocean swell reference those seen in Japanese woodblock prints (see image), which were extremely popular in France at the time Maillol made his print. While at Collioure, Matisse frequently visited Maillol’s studio in the nearby seaside village of Banyuls.
Saint Louis Art Museum, The Sidney S. and Sadie Cohen Print Purchase Fund 4:2012
Katsushika Hokusai, Japanese, 1760–1849; published by Nishimuraya Yohachi, Japanese, active late 18th–early 19th century; Aoigaoka Waterfall in the Eastern Capital, from the series A Journey to the Waterfalls of Various Provinces , c.1832–1833; color woodblock print; 14 13/16 x 9 15/16 inches; Saint Louis Art Museum, Museum Shop Fund 69:1986
Paul Gauguin, French, 1848–1903
printed by Louis Roy, French, 1862–1907 published by Paul Gauguin, French, 1848–1903
Delicious Earth , from the series Noa Noa , 1894 woodcut
printed by Pola Gauguin, Danish (born France), 1883–1961 published by Christian Cato, Danish
The Spirit of the Dead Watches , from the series Noa Noa , 1894, printed 1921 woodcut
These two prints by Paul Gauguin depict a Tahitian girl who possibly represents Teha’amana. In one, Gauguin envisions her as a Polynesian Eve amid a tropical landscape in a reimagining of the biblical Garden of Eden. In the other, she curls into a fetal position in bed while a dark spirit, representing the presence of death, looks on. Matisse may have borrowed from Gauguin’s imagery, as the poses seen here resemble the violinist and crouching figure in Music (Sketch) , on view nearby.
Teha’amana (see image) met Gauguin when she was 13 years old in 1891, and lived with him until he returned to France in 1893. She was pregnant during their time together, although no records of a child exist.
Saint Louis Art Museum, Bequest of Horace M. Swope 282:1940, 284:1940
Paul Gauguin, French, 1848–1903 printed by Louis Roy, French, 1862–1907
The Creation of the Universe , from the series Noa Noa , 1894 woodcut
Paul Gauguin interpreted the Polynesian creation myth, depicting the masklike face of the creator god Ta’aroa at the right. Stylized waves crash in the turbulent sea, while at the bottom, a human strides toward reclining figures in the newly created earthly realm. Within this dreamlike image, a bright red fish with a ginkgo-leaf tongue hovers in the foreground.
This print is from Noa Noa , a semi-fictionalized account of Gauguin’s travels in Tahiti. Matisse was invited to make a new edition of woodcuts for the series in 1906, but the project never came to fruition.
Saint Louis Art Museum, Bequest of Horace M. Swope 281:1940
Bathers with a Turtle: A Fusion of European and African Traditions
Henri Matisse’s Bathers with a Turtle offers an extraordinary opportunity to understand the artist’s thinking and working process. Matisse painted it in Paris between the fall of 1907 and February 1908. At this pivotal moment, he was experimenting with an array of fresh influences and in competition with the young Spanish painter Pablo Picasso.
In Bathers with a Turtle , Matisse aspired to dramatically reinvent the established European ”bather” painting-which dated back over 400 years-by drawing on a newly eclectic and global diversity of sources. In particular, he fused avantgarde French art with rich and inventive African artistic traditions brought to France in the late 19th and early 20th centuries as a result of colonial expansion.
Matisse’s varied sources, including a painting by Paul Cezanne and sub-Saharan African sculpture once belonging to the artist himself, are on view in this gallery. Also united here are Bathers with a Turtle and its compositional study, Three Bathers , for the first time in decades. This unique installation offers fascinating insights into Matisse’s approach, as he transformed his color palette, added a small turtle, and created a radically abstract background by removing references to a particular location. As a result, Matisse created a highly ambiguous space that seems timeless and universal.
Small Crouching Nude without an Arm , 1908 bronze
The Baltimore Museum of Art: The Cone Collection, formed by Dr. Claribel Cone and Miss Etta Cone of Baltimore, Maryland; BMA 1950.432 2024.18
Small Crouching Torso , 1908 bronze
Musée d’Orsay, Paris, Gift of Madame Jean Matisse to the French State on deposit at Musée Matisse Nice, 1978, Inv. no.: D.78.1.54 2024.40
During the early 1900s, Matisse worked on a series of small, fragmented sculptures, such as the two examples seen here. Each represents a female nude, often with clear signs of modeling, and is small enough to fit in one’s hand. In the most radical example, Matisse removed the head and arms to focus on the figure’s hunched torso, which he described as an “egg-like form beautiful in its volume.” The tensed back echoes that of the squatting woman in the foreground of Bathers with a Turtle .
Seated Figure, Right Hand on Ground , 1908 bronze
Musée d’Orsay, Paris, Gift of Madame Jean Matisse to the French State on deposit at Musée Matisse Nice, 1978, Inv. no.: D.78.1.12 2024.41
This small sculpture depicts a seated woman slightly twisting to her right. Her left arm extends toward her raised right knee, while her stiff right arm supports her body. The pose is similar to the crouching female in Bathers with a Turtle , highlighting the interconnectedness between Matisse’s two- and three-dimensional works. The figure also underscores the artist’s fascination with the shaping of arms. Here, they are rolled and twisted with a rough, tactile surface reminiscent of the uneven texture of his paintings.
Three Bathers , 1879–82 oil on canvas
Paul Cezanne often depicted bathers throughout his career, including this important painting of three female bathers near a river in a forest clearing. The figures are built up with thick, repetitive brushstrokes and carefully arranged to create a sense of order in the picture. Tall trees on the left and right frame the scene, establishing a pyramidal compositional structure. Matisse purchased this painting in 1899, and it played a significant role in his creative process, probably influencing his own work, Bathers with a Turtle .
Petit Palais, musée des Beaux-Arts de la Ville de Paris 2024.36
Pende artist, Democratic Republic of the Congo
Giwoyo Mask , late 19th–early 20th century wood, pigment, raffia
This Giwoyo mask, from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, has V-shaped brows, downturned eyes, and most notably, a long extension that appears to descend from the chin. The mask was actually worn horizontally on the wearer’s head, with the projection sticking outward. It was intended to evoke the ancestral presence of the dead in ceremonial dances.
The angular, stylized qualities of African masks intrigued Matisse. This particular example, which was owned by the artist, may have informed his abstracted treatment of the standing figure’s face in Bathers with a Turtle .
Private Collection, France 2024.02
Baga artist, Guinea
D’mba Figures , late 19th century wood
This pair of male and female figures share an identical pose, with bent legs, rounded bellies, and curving arms with hands resting under their chins. They were intended to uphold values of fertility, goodness, and generosity associated with D’mba ceremonies in Guinea in coastal West Africa. Matisse probably owned these two sculptures by 1908, when he was working on Bathers with a Turtle . The pair’s stance may have informed that of the upright enigmatic figure in Matisse’s painting.
Private Collection 2024.01.1,.2
Bathers with a Turtle , 1907–8 oil on canvas
In 1941, Matisse simply described this painting as “three women by the sea, playing with a turtle.” The small turtle, or tortoise, at bottom left serves as the focal point of the picture. Each figure engages with the animal in different ways, whether offering a leaf, gnawing fingers in a pose suggestive of curiosity and anxiety, or sadly staring at its tiny form. Despite Matisse’s reference to play, the overall atmosphere seems one of melancholy or even alienation. The three bathers are outlined against three abstract bands of green, ultramarine, and teal, which reference shore, sea, and sky.
To learn more about the conservation of Bathers with a Turtle , please visit Gallery 245.
Saint Louis Art Museum, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Pulitzer Jr. 24:1964
Three Bathers , 1907 oil on canvas
Matisse painted Three Bathers in the summer of 1907 as a compositional study for Bathers with a Turtle . The figures are similarly posed, but Matisse included details—such as towels, a rock to the right, and fishing boats and hills in the background—that he painted out in his final composition. While maintaining a degree of abstraction, this study is more grounded in the specific location of Collioure in the south of France, where it was painted. Matisse also used a very different color palette in this work, particularly evident in the warm tones of red, orange, yellow, and green for the beach.
Lent by the Minneapolis Institute of Art, Bequest of Putnam Dana McMillan 2024.13
Three Bathers , 1906–07 ceramic
Matisse produced a small body of ceramic works between 1906 and 1908, including this plate featuring a trio of women. A marine landscape with overarching trees frames the nude bathers. The deep blue glaze, likely informed by the artist’s interest in Islamic ceramics, mimics the color used in his seascapes from the same period. The figures’ poses appear in Matisse’s contemporary bather paintings, such as Three Bathers and Bathers with a Turtle on view nearby. However, the reclining woman on her stomach offers a distinct difference.
Lent by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Pierre and Maria-Gaetana Matisse Collection, 2002, 2002.456.117 2024.47
Decorative Figure , 1908, cast 1954 bronze
A female figure leans on a pedestal with her left leg crossed over her right. Her body forms a dynamic serpentine line that is visible when she is viewed from any angle. A clay model for this sculpture was in Matisse’s studio around the time he was painting Bathers with a Turtle in 1908 and may have influenced its development. The pose of the woman here, with her hand pressed between her legs, is similar to that of the seated bather in the picture.
Saint Louis Art Museum, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Richard K. Weil 173:1959
Bather , summer 1909 oil on canvas
A female bather with short, cropped hair is seen from behind, wading in rushing water. Matisse illustrated the striding figure in a pose likely inspired by Paul Cezanne’s Three Bathers , on view nearby. The heavy black outlines forming the bather were extensively revised by Matisse; he repeatedly changed the configuration of her right leg and reshaped her hunched back. The intense blue in this painting is reminiscent of the sea in the background of Bathers with a Turtle .
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, 1936 2024.12
Nice and the Mediterranean Coast: the 1920s
The sea is blue, but bluer than anyone has ever painted it, a color entirely fantastic and incredible. It is the blue of sapphires, of the peacock’s wing, of an Alpine glacier, and the kingfisher melted together; and yet it is like none of these, for it shines with the unearthly radiance of Neptune’s kingdom. –Henri Matisse on the Mediterranean Sea at Nice, 1950
Matisse first traveled to the seaside resort of Nice on the French Riviera in December 1917, and he often visited thereafter, eventually making it his permanent home. He loved the clarity of the light and the changing colors of the sea. He also enjoyed the possibilities for swimming and became an avid rower, winning an award from the Nautical Club of Nice (Club Nautique de Nice) for his diligent participation in club outings.
On his initial visits to Nice, Matisse stayed in hotel rooms on the seafront. During the 1920s, he rented an apartment. Many of his paintings show his interest in sea views seen through windows; the dialogue between inside and outside intrigued the artist.
Matisse’s Nice paintings of the 1920s were commercially successful. Yet for some critics, they were a conservative step backwards to an Impressionistic style after his earlier radical experiments with abstraction. Matisse defended his approach, claiming that he was trying to fuse an attention to nature with decorative effects.
In addition to his fascination with the Mediterranean, Matisse also occasionally painted the North Atlantic coast of France in these years. He focused on the resort town of Étretat in Normandy, which was well-known for its dramatic limestone cliffs.
Market in Nice , 1921–22 pen and India ink on paper
Musée Matisse Nice, Gift of Monsieur Claude Duthuit, 2015, Inv. no.: 15.1.1 2024.45
Seated Young Girl with a Bouquet of Flowers , 1923 lithograph
A dark-haired young woman in a dotted dress with a white collar sits at a table. She most likely represents Henriette Darricarrère, one of Matisse’s favorite and most frequently illustrated models from his time living in Nice during the 1920s. Henriette repeatedly appears in images of Matisse’s studio, often near the window that looked toward the sea.
Saint Louis Art Museum, Bequest of Horace M. Swope 649:1940
Interior at Nice , about 1919 oil on canvas
Matisse painted this young model, Antoinette Arnoud, in a richly decorated room with ornamented wallpaper and tiled floors. The large window opens out to a balcony overlooking the Bay of Angels in Nice. The blues and greens of the sea view contrast with the reds and pinks of the room. Matisse once noted, “Windows have always interested me because they are a passageway between the exterior and interior.”
Saint Louis Art Museum, Museum Purchase 74:1945
Interior at Nice , 1919 or 20 oil on canvas
Matisse’s model, Antoinette Arnoud, is shown seated on a balcony overlooking the sea. The work is one of his largest paintings of the view from his hotel room in Nice. The artist emphasized contrasts in color and patterning between the grid design of the pink tiled floor, the pale gold arabesques in the wallpaper, and the softly swelling waves of the Mediterranean in the distance. Matisse described Nice as having “a beautiful and soft light in spite of its brightness…it is silvered, even the objects that it touches are colored.”
The Art Institute of Chicago, Gift of Mrs. Gilbert W. Chapman, 1956.339 2024.15
Festival of Flowers , 1923 oil on canvas
An explosion of color characterizes Matisse’s painting of the annual Festival of Flowers in Nice. Two women—the artist’s daughter Marguerite and his model Henriette Darricarrère—are seen on the balcony, surrounded by the cut flowers they will toss onto the parade below. Matisse used dynamic brushstrokes to depict the carriages and spectators lining the boulevard. In the distance is the golden Jetée-Promenade, a now demolished pier with a Middle-Eastern-style casino that was a landmark in the 1920s. The calm sea, in azure blue, stands in contrast to the busy street.
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund 1946.444 2024.09
Seated Woman, Back Turned to the Open Window , about 1922 oil on canvas
Henriette Darricarrère sits in Matisse’s studio next to an open window facing the Mediterranean Sea. The ocean view occupies the majority of the picture space, suggesting its significance to the artist. Matisse was fascinated by the light and color of the water in Nice, comparing it to sapphires, peacock feathers, and glaciers. To capture this unique color, he painted the sea using a variety of tones, from pale teal green to deep ultramarine blue.
The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Purchase, John W. Tempest Fund 2024.07
Large Cliff with Fish , 1920 oil on canvas
In 1920, Matisse made repeated visits to Étretat on the Normandy coast. While there, he produced a group of paintings featuring sea life on the beach. In this version, he depicted a lobster, eels, rays, a large silvery fish, and clams or oysters, all arranged on a bed of seaweed. The colorful creatures and aqua water contrast with the gray tones of the shore, cliffs, and sky. Matisse’s picture anticipates his later interest in the marine worlds of French Polynesia.
The Baltimore Museum of Art: The Cone Collection, formed by Dr. Claribel Cone and Miss Etta Cone of Baltimore, Maryland; BMA 1950.233 2024.17
Seated Nude Clasping Her Right Leg , 1918 bronze
Musée d’Orsay, Paris, Gift of Madame Jean Matisse to the French State on deposit at Musée Matisse Nice, 1978, Inv. no.: D.78.1.27 2024.42
A sitting woman draws her right leg up toward her chest as she looks over her left shoulder. The surface of the form is rough and textured—a lasting impression of the artist’s process. Matisse often repeated variations of a particular pose in his sculptural works, including this seated position. The figure here can be seen as a precursor to his important bronzes of the 1930s, such as Venus in a Shell I and Venus in a Shell II , both on view nearby.
Crouching Venus , 1918–19 bronze
Matisse revisited the form of the crouching female nude in this sculpture from approximately 1918. The figure is shown resting on her right knee, with her torso twisting dynamically to the right as her left elbow sits on her elevated left thigh. The pose may be borrowed from ancient Roman sculptures of the goddess Venus, who is sometimes portrayed squatting while bathing (see image). Matisse would have seen such examples in the Louvre Museum in Paris.
Musée d’Orsay, Paris, Gift of Madame Jean Matisse to the French State on deposit at Musée Matisse Nice, 1978, Inv. no.: D.78.1.26 2024.43
Statuette , c.100 BC–100 AD; Roman, Imperial period; after Greek, Hellenistic period; marble; 10 1/4 x 7 7/8 x 5 1/8 inches; Musée du Louvre, Department of Greek, Etruscan and Roman Antiquities
French Polynesia I
Lagoons, are you not one of the seven wonders of the Paradise of painters? -Henri Matisse, about 1944
Matisse’s visit to French Polynesia in 1930 was a turning point in his career. Seeking fresh sources of inspiration for his work, he remained there for two-and-a-half months from March until June. The artist later described the islands as ”Paradise.” Initially, he stayed on the island of Tahiti, but also visited the Tuamotu Archipelago-home to the largest chain of atolls, or lagoons encircled by a coral reef, in the world. There he found the intense blue of the water intoxicating, as well as the colorful coral reefs that he discovered while swimming and diving.
Matisse produced little artwork during this trip-only occasional sketches and drawings, as well as some photographs. The trip did provide inspiration for much of his later output, including paintings, sculptures, paper cut-outs, and prints. Matisse developed a language of seaweed fronds as flat decorative patterns that appear repeatedly in his late work.
Matisse’s time in French Polynesia encouraged his fascination with Oceanic art, which he collected in the 1930s and ’40s upon his return to France, purchasing artwork at Parisian auctions. He was interested in the allover patterns found in Oceanic textiles and carvings. This visual preference may have informed the curvilinear decorative motifs of his own late imagery.
Nude in the Waves , 1938 linocut
The Diver I , 1938 linocut
The Diver II , 1938 linocut
In this group of linocut prints, a female nude either lounges by or dives into water. Defined in luminous white, the subject starkly contrasts with its black background. These works marked a return to a theme that had preoccupied Matisse during the early 1900s, when he painted bathers along the Mediterranean coast of France. The artist took advantage of the soft linoleum printing block—it was easy to carve and allowed him to create organic, flowing lines akin to pen and ink drawings. The fluid contours seen here enhance the sensuous quality of the images.
Bibliothèque nationale de France, Département Estampes et photographie, DC-418 (B,5) #2022-3511 2024.37–.39
Tahitian Landscape , April–May 1930 pen and India ink on wove paper
This view was drawn from Matisse’s hotel window in Papeete, the capital of Tahiti. A screen of trees is in the foreground, while a French navy schooner, also called Papeete, appears in the center of the composition. The vessel had been built in San Francisco before traveling to Tahiti, where it was converted into a trading ship between the Polynesian islands. Matisse often represented ships, which, to him, were invitations to travel and escape.
Musée Matisse Nice, Bequest of Madame Henri Matisse, 1960, Inv. no.: 63.2.93 2024.46
Venus in a Shell I , 1930 bronze
The Baltimore Museum of Art: The Cone Collection, formed by Dr. Claribel Cone and Miss Etta Cone of Baltimore, Maryland; BMA 1950.439 2024.19
Venus in a Shell II , 1932 bronze
Raymond and Patsy Nasher Collection, Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas 2024.05
This pair of sculptures depicts the same subject—the birth of the ancient Roman goddess Venus—but Matisse treated each figure in very different ways. Venus in a Shell I is more abstract, with smooth, elongated forms and contours making up the body. Venus in a Shell II is rougher, showing how the figure was built up by adding material to the form. While the title suggests the goddess is sitting in a shell, it actually resembles a shallow, everyday bathtub.
Bougainville Island artist, Papua New Guinea
Dance Shield , late 19th century wood, lime
This small dance shield has been delicately engraved and painted on both sides with repetitive geometric designs. Its small scale indicates that it would have been used in a ceremonial dance rather than having any protective function. The abstract patterns are of a kind that appealed to Matisse in his later years, as he explored the inventiveness of Oceanic artwork.
Saint Louis Art Museum, Gift of Morton D. May 134:1978
Abau artist, Papua New Guinea
Shield , early to mid-20th century wood, pigment
This impressive work is a war shield that would have been used in combat rather than for ceremony. The holes at the top and sides once held bark straps so the shield could be hung on the shoulder, allowing the warrior to easily maneuver a bow and arrows. The shield came from the Green River in the Upper Sepik of Papua New Guinea, Melanesia. The motifs on shields like this one may have influenced Matisse’s abstract curvilinear designs, as seen in Jazz , on view nearby.
Saint Louis Art Museum, Bequest of Morton D. May 74:1994
Forms from Jazz, plate IX , 1944 pochoir print
Swimmer in the Aquarium from Jazz, plate XII , 1944 pochoir print
Knife Thrower from Jazz, plate XV , 1943–47 pochoir print
The Lagoon from Jazz, plate XVII , 1944 pochoir print
The Lagoon from Jazz, plate XVIII , 1944 pochoir print
The Lagoon from Jazz, plate XIX , 1944 pochoir print
Abstract shapes and vibrant colors abound in this selection of illustrations from Jazz , Matisse’s most ambitious book project. The artist originally envisioned it as a series of images called “Coral” or “Lagoons.” While the project ultimately expanded to include motifs from the circus and popular culture, the sea continued to play an important role in its design.
The trio of prints titled The Lagoon highlight Matisse’s memories of his time spent snorkeling in the clear lagoons of French Polynesia. The fronds of seaweed depicted here would become some of the main decorative elements in his later paper cut-outs. This seaweed motif entered other themed prints like Knife Thrower , in which the sharp, pointed shape of the thrower contrasts with the soft curves of his assistant. Swimmer in the Aquarium offers a different but related scene, where a silhouetted swimmer is viewed by a spectator at bottom right in a popular Parisian attraction. Finally, Forms presents a near mirror image of a simplified female torso, whose rich blue color again suggests the sea.
Private Collection, United States 2024.29–.34
F. W. Murnau, German, 1888-1931 excerpts from Tahu: A Story of the South Seas , 1931
Internet Archive
During his stay in Tahiti, Matisse spent several days with the German movie director, Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau (1888-1931), who was shooting Tabu: A Story of the South Seas . This film, made in a remote bay, used local inhabitants as actors and highlighted the natural beauty of the island. However, it also perpetuated a racist stereotype of Polynesia as uncivilized and “primitive.” Matisse was certainly intrigued by the motion picture and saw it three times upon his return to France.
A LOOK INTO MATISSE’S Bathers with a Turtle
duration: 11 minutes, 31 seconds, looped
French Polynesia II
Among the most impressive of Matisse’s works resulting from his trip to French Polynesia are the two large-scale Oceania tapestries on view in this gallery. Matisse described these as ”reveries” composed some 15 years after his visit.
He recalled the exhilaration of his stay: ”From the first, the enchantments of the sky there, the sea, the fish, and the coral in the lagoons plunged me into the inaction of total ecstasy.” The designs for Oceania were initially produced as white paper cut-outs on the beige walls of his Paris apartment before Matisse transferred them to tapestries, which were produced as a limited edition.
Matisse’s interest in textiles was undoubtedly informed by the fact that he came from a family of weavers. Moreover, the concept for the Oceania tapestries the regular spacing of images and the light monochrome background-suggest the influence of Polynesian tapa. Matisse acquired these works, made from the inner bark of various native trees, when he returned to France in the 1930s and ’40s, probably purchasing them at Parisian auctions. Matisse’s collecting of African art also expanded from sculpture to include Kuba textiles from the Democratic Republic of the Congo in these years.
Mermaids , studies for “ I wish to drag my pain the length of France ,” 1942, printed 1962 crayon transfer lithograph printed in red-brown ink
These three prints present mermaids reclining among the waves. They are studies for Matisse’s illustration of a love poem entitled “I wish to drag my pain the length of France,” written by the French poet Pierre de Ronsard (1524–1585). Each image has slight variations in tail shape, scales, hair, and facial features. Yet all portray the figure as relaxed, even somewhat playful, which belies the pain indicated in the title of the poem. Matisse designed them in 1942, perhaps in response to the anxiety and suffering associated with the ongoing Second World War.
The Baltimore Museum of Art: Marguerite Matisse Duthuit Collection; BMA 2010.227–.228, .231 2024.20–.22
Oceania, The Sea , designed 1946, made 1948 screenprint on linen
Matisse depicted all manner of sea creatures—including abstract sharks, jellyfish, and rays, as well as coral formations and seaweed—in this large-scale tapestry. They suggest his memories of diving in French Polynesia. Matisse once described plunging into a crystal-clear ocean, where he could see “fish and great coral massifs as clearly as if there was no water.” For the artist, the lines above the jellyfish served as “signs” for the horizon line, while the beige background may reference sand.
Saint Louis Art Museum, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Anthony Wilson 196:1962
Kuba artist, Democratic Republic of the Congo
Textile , early 20th century palm fiber, pigment
Saint Louis Art Museum, Museum Purchase 39:1942
Prestige Cloth , early to mid-20th century palm fiber, pigment
Saint Louis Art Museum, Friends Fund 17:1992
Abstract shapes in repetitive patterns adorn these two Kuba textiles. The combination of flat embroidery and lush cut pile creates a variety of forms and textures on their surface. These cloths indicated social standing within Kuba society and could be worn assembled to wrap around the body, used as mats, or serve as currency. Matisse collected several Kuba cloths in his later years and admired them for the “mystery of their instinctive geometry.”
Oceania, The Sky , designed 1946, made 1948 screenprint on unbleached linen
Swooping birds populate this tapestry, but somewhat surprisingly, they share the space with fish, jellyfish, and coral. For example, note the small fish at top right. When recalling his time spent swimming in French Polynesia, Matisse noted how the sea and sky seemed to merge, with fish flying out of the water and birds diving into the waves. Matisse also remembered the intense light of the Pacific, which gave him the feeling of looking into “a large golden chalice.” This luminosity is suggested here by his minimalist palette of whites and beiges.
Fondation Beyeler, Riehen/Basel, Beyeler Collection 2024.52
Fijian artist, Fiji Islands
Tapa Cloth ( masi ) , about 1948 bark cloth, pigment
This black-and-white tapa, or bark cloth, features a decorative saw-tooth motif and fringe distinctive to Fijian island culture. Following his trip to Tahiti, Matisse built up a significant collection of tapa in the 1930s and 1940s, including examples similar to this work. The stenciled patterns of tapa fascinated him and may have informed his textiles, such as the two Oceania panels in this gallery. Both the tapa and Matisse’s tapestries have similar, evenly spaced forms and background colors.
Saint Louis Art Museum, Gift of Vion Papin Schram & Bernard K. Schram 38:1999
The Late Paper Cut-Outs
Matisse first began to make paper cut-outs in the early 1930s, initially as studies for paintings. In the 1940s, his health declined, limiting his output of painting and sculpture. As a result, he began to focus on cut-outs, which were easier for him to produce.
The artist crafted the cut-outs while sitting in bed or in his chair, defining the shape of the paper with a range of scissor sizes. His assistants prepared the paper by coloring it with gouache, or opaque watercolor, in advance. Matisse compared his practice to that of carving into wood to create sculpture. On another occasion, he likened it to ”drawing with scissors.” Due to the flatness of the medium, the resulting cut-outs served as a return to his early interest in abstraction, evident in Bathers with a Turtle .
Matisse’s paper cut-outs concentrate on marine themes. Two of his best-known examples, titled Blue Nudes , are on view in this gallery. Originally, Matisse considered these subjects to be bathers. He intended the cut-outs to be surrounded by organic seaweed-like motifs within an enormous mural, recalling an Oceanic paradise, that he created on his studio walls in 1952. The theme of the human body placed within a marine setting remained central to Matisse’s practice until his death.
Composition Green Background , 1947 gouache, cut papers, and pencil on paper
Blue, black, and yellow seaweed and white snail forms stand out against the intense greens of this late cut-out by by Matisse. It suggests marine plant and animal life floating in the lagoons of French Polynesia, which the artist would have witnessed during his travels. Writing about his experiences diving in the atolls there, Matisse commented that “the water of the lagoon is the color of green-gray jade, colored again by its proximity to the bottom.”
The Menil Collection, Houston 2024.16
Composition with Red Cross , 1947 gouache, pencil, paper, and colored paper collage mounted on paperboard
Matisse used brilliant red paper for this work, accented with deep blue rectangles and colorful seaweed forms. He became interested in seaweed and algae as decorative forms after his travels to French Polynesia in 1930 and gradually incorporated these elements into his paper cut-outs in later years. The fronds seem to flow and sway in contrast to the angular geometry of the background, giving this image a sense of movement.
Private Collection 2024.06
Blue Nude, the Frog , 1952 gouache painted paper cut-outs on paper on canvas
Matisse depicted this nude figure in a pose the artist compared to that of a frog. Her seated form is represented in a highly abstract manner, with three circles for her head and breasts. The serpentine shapes extending from her torso suggest upraised arms or the outline of her falling, wavy hair. Two pomegranates—symbols of fertility—indicate an idyllic setting. The bright yellow background is unique among Matisse’s late blue nude cut-outs and may suggest sunlight.
Fondation Beyeler, Riehen/Basel, Beyeler Collection, Inv.79.2 2024.51
Blue Nude I , 1952 gouache painted paper cut-outs on paper on canvas
In this iconic cut-out, Matisse constructed a seated figure using paper pre-colored with a deep blue gouache, or opaque watercolor. The sinuous right arm forms a winding line that continues through the vertical of the left arm. Matisse considered this female nude to be a bather, and it represents the culmination of the theme of bathing women that preoccupied him intermittenly from the early 1900s. The artist’s assistant, Lydia Delectorskaya, remembered that he made this cut-out “with mastery” in only 10 or 15 minutes “at the maximum.”
Fondation Beyeler, Riehen/Basel, Beyeler Collection, Inv.60.1 2024.50
Venus , 1952 gouache on paper, cut and pasted on white paper, mounted on paper panel
Emerging between two pieces of cut blue paper is an abstract female torso. To create the form, Matisse used the negative space of the cream paper underneath. The nude figure is reduced to her basic parts: an elongated neck, angular shoulders, breasts on either side, and a tapering waist. Her asymmetrical positioning on the paper seems to suggest a dynamic twisting motion. The cut-out’s title, referencing the ancient Roman god of love, highlights Matisse’s continuing interest in mythology.
National Gallery of Art, Washington, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund, 1973.18.2 2024.14
Frédéric Rossif, French, 1922–1990 and Henri Langlois, French, 1914–1977
Henri Matisse , 1951
Cinémathèque française
This film clip shows Matisse making a cut-out in his studio with the help of assistant Paule Caen-Martin. He uses large tailoring scissors to rapidly cut curvilinear, seaweed-like forms. He then arranges motifs on paper. Although the film was never completed or released, the footage offers crucial insight into Matisse’s cut-out practice.
Edward Steichen, American (born Luxembourg), 1879–1973; Henri Matisse working on Dance I , 1909; Image: The Granger Collection
Oil Paint Supplies
Matisse preferred pure colors directly from the paint tube, producing strong hues and bright tones. He often created various effects by layering colors instead of mixing them together. Oil paint can be used to create glossy or matte areas, flat or raised brushstrokes, broad sweeps of color, or dabs of paint.
Matisse worked with brushes of all sizes as well as tools like palette knives, needles, pencils, and even cloth rags to scrape through or rub away areas on the canvas. A double palette cup, like the one visible in the photograph above, held linseed oil on one side and turpentine on the other. Matisse used these to manipulate the texture and flow of the paints-linseed oil to smooth and extend or turpentine to thin.
Pigment Samples
Pigments one through nine were detected within the paint of Matisse’s Bathers with a Turtle , which has relatively few colors. He used different varieties of iron earths, including yellow ochre and burnt umber, along with lead white and madder lake pink to create the figures’ skin tones. The background was layered with pure viridian green and ultramarine blue.
1 carbon black 2 lead white 3 zinc white 4 ultramarine blue 5 viridian green 6 yellow ochre 7 burnt umber 8 madder lake pink 9 cadmium yellow lemon
In many of his other paintings, Matisse favored the bright red vermilion pigment. He also regularly used several synthetic colors, such as cobalt violet, cobalt blue, cadmium orange, and strontium yellow.
Paper Cut-out Supplies
As Matisse became more focused on paper cut-outs instead of painting, he continued to utilize the same pure, bright colors. Sheets of paper were uniformly coated with vivid gouache paints by studio assistants to give the artist a variety of colors with which to work.
He then used scissors or large shears, cutting in a continuous motion and rotating the paper to create sinuous shapes. Matisse’s materials and techniques evolved, but his fundamental pigment choices remained throughout his career.
The artist supplies displayed here are contemporary examples similar to those used by Matisse.
Matisse in Belle-Île, 1896; Archives Henri Matisse, all rights reserved
Henri Riviere, French, 1864–1951; Belle-Isle-en-Mer , 1910; watercolor, pencil on paper; 10 3/8 x 16 1/8 inches; Bibliotheque nationale de France, departement Estampes et photographie, DC-422 (5)-FOL
Ajaccio (South Corsica), c.1930; postcard; 3 1/2 x 5 1/2 inches; Alencon Urban Community Media Library, Bry Fund BRY 694
Archives Henri Matisse, all rights reserved
Photograph of Matisse, his family, and the Stein family, Cavalière (from left to right: Pierre Matisse, Henri Matisse, Allan Stein, Amélie Matisse, Michel Stein, Sarah Stein, Jean Matisse), 1909; Archives Henri Matisse, all rights reserved
Matisse and Amélie Matisse in Morocco, 1912; Archives Henri Matisse, all rights reserved
published by Edition Baylone Freres, Nice; Promenade des Anglais et Jetee Promenade , 1912; Ville de Nice
Henri Matisse in his studio, 1927; Photo: Michel Georges-Michel; Archives Henri Matisse, all rights reserved
Matisse on Lac d’Annecy, France, 1928; Archives Henri Matisse, all rights reserved
Matisse Under Pandanus Trees, 1930; Archives Henri Matisse, all rights reserved, Photo: F. W. Murnau
Henri Matisse, French, 1869–1954; Matisse looking underwater through a glass-bottomed box in Fakarava, French Polynesia, drawing, letter to Amélie Matisse , May 29, 1930; Archives Henri Matisse, all rights reserved
published by Detroit Publishing Company; Hotel Excelsior, Regina Palace, Cimiez, Nice, France , between c.1890 and c.1900; photomechanical print (photochrom); Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division 2001697642
Matisse working at the Hotel Regina, Nice, c.1952; Photo by Walter Carone / Paris Match via Getty Images
Sailboats (1906) by Henri Matisse
Artwork Information
| Title | Sailboats | |||||
| Artist | Henri Matisse | |||||
| Date | 1906 | |||||
| Art Movement | Post-Impressionism |
| S | M | T | W | T | F | S |
|---|
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'Le Bateau', by Henri Matisse: Rhodri Marsden's Interesting Objects
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Today in 1961, final preparations were being made at New York's Museum of Modern Art for the opening of an exhibition entitled “The Last Works of Henri Matisse”. Forty of the artist's gouache papercuts dating from the late 1940s and early 1950s had been brought over from Paris by Monroe Wheeler, the museum's director of exhibitions, and hung in a space on the ground floor. The last but one picture, just before the entrance to the cafeteria, was Le Bateau, an image of a sailing boat and its reflection in the water. It was hung upside down.
There have been a few notorious instances of pictures being accidentally hung at 90 degrees (Edwin Dickinson's The Fossil Hunters at the Carnegie International Exhibition in 1929, Mark Rothko's Black on Maroon at Tate Modern in 2008), but this 180-degree clanger went unnoticed for 47 days.
One of the exhibition's 116,000 visitors, a stockbroker by the name of Genevieve Habert, had felt slightly unsettled by the image on her visit, and so she returned to MoMA on the evening of Sunday 3 December to check. Sure enough, the catalogue clearly indicated that the painting was upside down. She advised a museum attendant, who replied: “You don't know what's up and you don't know what's down and neither do we.”
Having failed to interest the museum, Ms Habert called The New York Times, which conveyed the complaint to Wheeler. Horrified, he ordered the painting to be rehung.
“It's very confusing,” Alicia Legg, an assistant curator, told the newspaper. “The labels on the back were put upside down and the picture apparently has been shown upside down before.” Pierre Matisse, the artist's son, was quoted as saying that Habert “should receive a medal”. She did not receive one.
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10 Most Famous Henri Matisse Paintings
Henri Émile Benoît Matisse (December 31, 1869 – November 3, 1954) was a French artist recognized for his use of color as well as his fluid and unique draughtsmanship.
He was a draughtsman, printer, and sculptor, but he is best known as a painter. Matisse, along with Pablo Picasso, is widely considered as one of the artists who best contributed to define the revolutionary advancements in the visual arts during the first decades of the twentieth century, and he was responsible for key innovations in painting and sculpture.
The strong colorism of his paintings created between 1900 and 1905 earned him recognition as a Fauvist. Many of his most notable works were made in the decade or two after 1906, when he established a strict style emphasizing flattened shapes and colorful pattern.
He moved to a neighborhood of Nice on the French Riviera in 1917, and the more relaxed form of his work in the 1920s earned him critical recognition as a defender of the classical heritage in French painting.
After 1930, he took a more daring form of simplification. When his health prohibited him from painting in his later years, he developed a significant body of work in the technique of cut paper collage.
His command of the expressive language of color and drawing, as shown by a body of work spanning more than a half-century, earned him prominence as a prominent figure in modern art.
Henri Matisse Famous Paintings
Henri Matisse’s Dance, easily identifiable as one of the most famous works of contemporary art, is known for its creative character as well as the disputed method in which it was developed.
The French art establishment first responded badly to Dance because of its primitive form and use of just three colors, which was emblematic of the Fauvist movement.
This painting, commissioned and painted in 1910 for a wealthy Russian collector, features a circle of nude people dancing hand in hand against a dark blue and green background.
Also Read: Music Paintings
The artwork was condemned for its crude character, and Matisse was lambasted by many members of the art community for it.
Many art connoisseurs, on the other hand, like the painting for its unique level of color depth, since the dancing individuals are all portrayed in a reddish hue, while the ground is depicted in a solid green hue and contrasted against a lowering sky.
2. Woman with a Hat
Woman with a Hat (French: La femme au chapeau) is an oil painting of Matisse’s wife, Amelie.
It was painted in 1905 and displayed at the Salon d’Automne that autumn, among works by André Derain, Maurice de Vlaminck, and numerous other “Fauves” painters.
When comparing Matisse’s and his companions’ paintings to a Renaissance-style sculpture that shared the room with them, critic Louis Vauxcelles coined the expression “Donatello chez les fauves..” (Donatello among the wild beasts).
His remark was published in Gil Blas, a daily newspaper, on October 17, 1905, and quickly became famous. Woman with a Hat was at the core of the debate that gave rise to the name Fauvism.
It was also a painting that highlighted Matisse’s aesthetic change away from the Divisionist brushstrokes of his early work and toward a more expressive manner. Its sloppy brushwork and “unfinished” look astounded visitors as much as its vibrant, non-naturalistic hues.
3. Le Bonheur de Vivre ( The Joy of Life )
Henri Matisse’s artwork Le bonheur de vivre (The Joy of Life) Le bonheur de vivre, along with Picasso’s Les Demoiselles d’Avignon, is recognized as one of the foundations of early modernism.
The massive work was initially shown at the Salon des Indépendants in 1906, when its cadmium hues and spatial distortions elicited popular fury and outcry.
In the picture, naked ladies and men frolic, play music, and dance in a vibrantly colored countryside. A group of individuals in the piece’s middle backdrop is comparable to the group portrayed in his painting The Dance.
It was critically panned when it was shown at the Salon des Indépendants in 1906 due to its confusing topic and lack of aesthetic consistency. Some commentators even predicted the death of French art.
However, by the 1920s, the painting had been recognized as a contemporary masterpiece. Matisse regarded it to be one of his most significant works.
4. Blue Nudes
Henri Matisse’s Blue Nudes is a series of color lithographs constructed from cut-outs representing naked people in different poses.
Matisse resumed making art by cutting and painting sheets of paper by hand following his stomach cancer operation, and oversaw the fabrication of the lithographs until his death in 1954.
Blue Nude IV, the first of the four nudes, required a notebook of research and two weeks of cutting and arranging before he was pleased with the finished product. In the end, Matisse settled on his favorite stance for all four works: intertwined legs and an arm stretched behind the neck.
The nude woman’s stance is similar to that of a number of sitting nudes done in the early 1920s; eventually, the posture stems from the reposed figures of Le bonheur de vivre. Blue Nude II, the second in the series(featured above), was finished in 1952.
Matisse associated the color blue with distance and volume. Frustrated with his attempts to successfully marry dominant and contrasting tones, the artist was moved early in his career to use solid slabs of single color, a technique that became known as Fauvism.
Matisse’s collection of African sculpture and his 1930 vacation to Tahiti inspired the painted gouache cut-outs that comprise the Blue Nudes. Matisse needed another twenty years and a post-operative period of infirmity before he was able to incorporate African and Polynesian elements into this key series.
5. Portrait of Madame Matisse (The Green Line)
The Green Stripe (La Raie Verte), often known as Madame Matisse’s Portrait. The Green Line is a portrait of Henri Matisse’s wife, Amélie Noellie Matisse-Parayre, by Henri Matisse.
The picture is on display in Copenhagen’s Statens Museum for Kunst.
It is an oil painting on canvas that was done in the fall or winter of 1905. It’s called because the green strip that splits the face in half, which Matisse used to create a feeling of light, shadow, and volume without the use of conventional shading.
Colorism in Matisse’s work was surprising at the time. When the painting was first shown in Paris in 1906, it was mockingly dubbed as the work of Les Fauves (the wild creatures), with comparable works by André Derain and Maurice de Vlaminck.
Matisse’s The Green Stripe has been described as an unsettling picture by both lovers and detractors.
6. The Conversation
The Conversation, a Henri Matisse artwork from 1908 to 1912, displays the artist and his wife confronting each other against a vivid blue backdrop. It is part of the Hermitage Museum’s collection in Saint Petersburg, Russia.
Sergei Shchukin, a Russian collector, purchased this painting straight from Matisse in Paris.
The Shchukin collection was seized during the Russian Revolution and, by 1948, it had been presented to the public, together with the Ivan Morozov collection, at the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow and the Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg.
The Conversation was painted by Matisse at a time when he had abandoned the wide, spontaneous brushwork of his Fauve phase in favor of a flatter, more ornamental approach.
The enormous picture (69 5/8 in. × 85 3/8 in., or 177 cm x 217 cm) depicts Matisse in profile, standing to the left in striped pajamas, with his wife, Amélie, sitting to the right. A window leading into a beautiful scene breaks up the uniformly painted blue wall behind them.
Matisse’s pajamas were popular as leisure wear in early twentieth-century France. They had lately been imported to Europe from India, where tea growers wore them, and Matisse wore pajamas as his studio working attire for the rest of his life.
7. The Dessert: Harmony in Red
The Dessert: Harmony in Red is a painting from 1908. Some commentators believe it to be Matisse’s masterpiece. With the general absence of a distinct focal point, this Fauvist painting follows the model established by Impressionism.
The picture was commissioned as “Harmony in Blue,” but Matisse was unhappy with the outcome and painted it over with his favorite red.
It is part of the permanent collection of Russia’s Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg.
8. Blue Nude ( Souvenir de Biskra )
Blue Nude (Souvenir of Biskra) (“Nu bleu, Souvenir de Biskra”), an early 1907 oil painting on canvas by Henri Matisse, is part of the Cone Collection at the Baltimore Museum of Art.
When a sculpture he was working on crumbled, Matisse was inspired to paint the naked woman. He subsequently completed the sculpture, named Reclining Nude I. (Aurore).
Matisse stunned the French audience when he displayed Blue Nude at the Société des Artistes Indépendants in 1907. (Souvenir de Biskra).
Blue Nude was one of the works that became a worldwide sensation at the Armory Show in New York City in 1913.
The Fauvist artwork was contentious; it was burnt in effigy in 1913 at the Armory Show in Chicago, where it had traveled from New York.
The artwork had a profound influence on Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso in 1907, inspiring Picasso to create Les Demoiselles d’Avignon.
9. The Snail (Collage)
Henri Matisse’s collage The Snail (L’escargot) The piece was developed during the summer of 1952 and the beginning of 1953. It is a gouache painting on paper that has been cut and pasted onto a base sheet of white paper that measures 9’434″ by 9’5″ (287 x 288 cm). The work is housed in the Tate Modern collection in London.
As the title suggests, it is made up of a variety of colorful forms arranged in a spiral pattern. Matisse sketched the snail first, then interpreted it with colorful paper.
Matisse gave the painting the alternative title La Composition Chromatique because it combines complimentary hues.
Matisse’s health deteriorated in the early to mid-1940s, and he suffered from arthritis. By 1950, he had abandoned painting in favor of gouaches découpées, or paper cutouts. The Snail is a significant example of this last body of work.
10. The Open Window
The Open Window, also known as Open Window, Collioure, is a Henri Matisse artwork. The oil on canvas painting was completed in 1905 and shown at the Salon d’Automne in Paris the following year.
Mrs. John Hay Whitney’s estate presented it to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC in 1998.
It is an example of the Fauvist school of painting for which Matisse became recognized and was a leader during the years 1900–1909. The Open Window represents the scene from his apartment window at Collioure, on France’s southern coast.
Sailboats are visible on the sea, as seen from Matisse’s hotel window overlooking the harbor. He returned to the motif of the open window repeatedly in Paris, notably during his years in Nice and Etretat, and in his later years, particularly in the late 1940s.
Henri Matisse was fond of painting open windows and did so throughout his career.
Henri Matisse in 10 Paintings
Valeria Kumekina 19 June 2024 min Read
Henri Matisse, Music , 1910, Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg, Russia.
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A renowned artist, Henri Matisse was one of the most prominent figures of the avant-garde movement. He is widely considered the father of Fauvism. His work is known for its vibrant colors and joyful nature. In this article, we will explore his creative path through 10 of his paintings.
Henri Matisse was born in a small town, Le Cateau-Cambrésis, in northern France. His father owned a shop and his mother painted ceramics. His father hoped that Henri would become a lawyer, but he never imagined that his son would go on to become the founder of a revolutionary new painting movement – Fauvism . Matisse actually studied law at the Sorbonne and even worked as a lawyer for a while, but his passion for drawing soon took over. One day, while Matisse was in the hospital, his mother gave him paints. That sparked his interest in art. From then on, Matisse dedicated himself to becoming an artist.
1. The Dinner Table, 1897
Henri Matisse, The Dinner Table , 1897, private collection.
Going against his parents’ wishes, he returned to Paris to study art. At the beginning of his career, he studied under several renowned artists, including William Bouguereau and Gustave Moreau . Like many aspiring artists at the time, Matisse visited the Louvre and copied the works of old masters, paying special attention to still-life paintings, which would later influence his own work.
With new trends emerging one after another, the late 19th century in France was a time of great artistic innovation. Matisse met John Russell , an Australian Impressionist , who influenced his style and introduced him to Impressionism and Post-Impressionism . This exposure to new ideas and techniques helped shape Matisse’s unique artistic vision.
The Dining Table was created after meeting Russell. The painting shows a table filled with fruits and glassware and a maid holding flowers. This is an early work by Matisse and the colors are still contrasting between light and dark. The influence of Impressionism is evident. The shadows cast by the objects are not completely black, and the highlights on the white tablecloth and dishes have colored edges.
Matisse realized that the academic style of Bouguereau and Moreau had become outdated, and after becoming familiar with the works of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist artists, he tried to develop his own unique artistic language.
2. Luxury, Serenity, and Pleasure, 1904
Henri Matisse, Luxury, Serenity, and Pleasure , 1904, Musée d’Orsay, Paris, France.
Gradually, Matisse’s paintings became more intense and vibrant while a new chapter of his life began. He fell in love and married Amélie Noellie Parayre. She was so supportive of him that she even opened a hat shop in Paris to make money for the family. They had two sons and also raised Matisse’s daughter from a previous relationship, Marguerite. The family was often featured in his works.
Continuing his artistic journey, Matisse met the Neo-Impressionist artists, including Paul Signac. Together, they spent the summer in the south of France, where Matisse was inspired by Signac’s technique of Pointillism. This technique involves using small dots of color to create a whole picture in the viewer’s mind.
Luxury, Serenity, and Pleasure is created in this style. You can see Matisse’s love for color coming to life. Simplified images of people, trees, and other objects are placed in a vibrant landscape. In his Fauvist works, Matisse also simplified everything he depicted, whether it was a portrait or still life.
3. Woman with a Hat, 1905
Henri Matisse, Woman with a Hat , 1905, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA, USA.
Henri Matisse spent the summer of 1905 in Collioure with André Derain and Maurice de Vlaminck. The colors of the Mediterranean Sea captivated and inspired him. Together with Derain, Matisse liberated color from its traditional descriptive role, making it the main focus of their paintings. Through this gesture, Fauvism was born.
At the Autumn Salon, Matisse presented a portrait of Madame Matisse. The painting is a kaleidoscope of colors: greens, yellows, blues, oranges, and purples. The idea that shadows and light can be painted with any color was already introduced by the Impressionists. However, Matisse’s use of color was daringly bright and bold, moving away from Pointillism
Critics and the general public were surprised by Matisse’s Woman in a Hat , as well as works by Derain and Vlaminck. They named them “wild beasts” or “les fauves”. However, Gertrude Stein, an American writer and art collector, noticed Matisse. Having a keen eye on avant-garde painting, Gertrude Stein together with her brother Leo bought Woman with a Hat.
4. The Joy of Life, 1905–1906
Henri Matisse, The Joy of Life , 1905–1906, Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
So, Matisse discovered Fauvism and color for himself and the world. He became infamous with his new painting, The Joy of Life , which was shocking. It had garish colors and distorted figures that defied the laws of anatomy.
On the one hand, the painting has some similarities to the painting Luxury, Serenity, and Pleasure . However, on the other hand, it is technically painted with flat planes of color. It depicts a group of people dancing, which subsequently formed the famous Dance , and it contains references to Music (see below).
Matisse painted Le Bonheur de vivre and created a new formula for color that would leave its mark on every painter of the period. Gertrude Stein Claudine Grammont, Matisse in the Barnes Foundation , vol. 2 (New York: Thames & Hudson, 2015), 46–60
5. Music, 1910
It so happened that Matisse’s work was a success among collectors outside of France. Therefore, we can say that he fell under the patronage of the Russian collector, Sergei Shchukin . Shchukin recognized Matisse’s revolutionary spirit and talent and commissioned him to create paired panels of Dance and Music for his mansion in Moscow.
Music was made in the same colors as Dance : red, green, and blue. The figures of musicians playing music can be associated with notes on a music sheet. Harmony was achieved through the use of pure, flat planes of color, horizontal lines, and shapes, as well as composition. Once again, distorted anatomy, lack of details, simplified faces, and large color spots – this was a slap in the face for society.
Interestingly, after seeing Dance and Music at the Autumn Salon of 1910 in Paris, Shchukin refused to purchase them. If Parisian society was not prepared for such artwork, what could be said about Moscow society? However, Shchukin later recognized his mistake and bought both works.
6. The Family of the Artist, 1911
Henri Matisse, The Family of the Artist , 1911, Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg, Russia.
Matisse paid close attention to individual colors and created works that were studies of red and pink. The Family of the Artist , for example, is dominated by red, as well as lemon yellow, and black. This painting is part of a group known as “symphonic interiors”. The members of Matisse’s family are truly integrated into the interior of the room, like a carpet, fireplace, or chessboard. Each object and person depicted takes its place in the composition, balancing the overall picture like in music, each instrument plays a part in a symphony, contributing to the overall harmony of sound.
7. Still Life after Jan Davidsz de Heem’s La Desserte , 1915
Henri Matisse, Still Life after Jan Davidsz de Heem’s La Desserte , 1915, Museum of Modern Art, New York City, NY, USA.
Having contributed to the development of Fauvism, Matisse continued to experiment in his work, being inspired by the new trends in art of the time. The artist had a particular love for still lifes, which he had absorbed while sketching in the Louvre. One of his paintings was an homage to 17th-century Dutch artist Jan Davidsz de Heem. A musical instrument, vases, and jugs, as well as a magnificent table, are indeed attributes popular during the Dutch Golden Age . However, how did Matisse present them?
It is important to note that at this time, Cubism, led by Pablo Picasso , had already become a cultural phenomenon. Matisse and Picasso were considered the masters of the avant-garde and closely followed each other’s work. Matisse couldn’t help but enter into dialogue with him, even though their styles differed. The objects in the painting are shown as if seen from different angles, and the influence of Paul Cézanne can be noticed in the simplification of form and use of color accents.
In the end, everything depends on one’s self, on a fire in the belly with a thousand rays. Nothing else counts. That is why, for example, Matisse is Matisse… He’s got the sun in his gut. Pablo Picasso Paul Trachtman, Matisse & Picasso , Smithsonian Magazine
8. Goldfish and Palette, 1914
Henri Matisse, Goldfish and Palette , 1914, Museum of Modern Art, New York City, NY, USA.
Matisse often used the image of goldfish in his work , even during the period of the First World War. In this painting, the sparkling vitality and joy, visible in his other depictions of this theme, are replaced by sharp angles and straight lines, and the artist’s use of color is also more subdued, with black, blue, and white dominating. Only the red fish and the bright yellow lemon stand out as a bright spot, seeming to offer a glimmer of hope for a better future.
This was a difficult time for Matisse, as the First World War caused a halt in orders from Russian patrons. The challenging social climate also affected his work, leading to a more somber use of color and empty compositions.
9. Odalisque in Red Trousers, 1924–1925
Henri Matisse, Odalisque in Red Trousers , 1924–1925, Musée de l’Orangerie, Paris, France.
However, after the war, Matisse’s paintings were once again filled with bright colors. In the 1920s, he created several works depicting odalisques, inspired by the Orient , its secrets and charm, as well as his earlier trips to Morocco . The Orient has always attracted the attention of European artists, such as the master of Neoclassical art Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres .
In this painting, decorative elements and ornaments, such as flowers on screens, form a background contrasted with the diagonals of the couch. The reclining odalisque is formed through curved lines that rhyme with the flowers. When we look at the painting we may want to absorb its every detail and color.
10. Pink Nude, 1935
Henri Matisse, Pink Nude , 1935, Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, MD, USA.
In the 1930s, Lydia Delektorskaya played a significant role in Henri Matisse’s life. She was a Russian émigré who came to live with Matisse and his wife as a companion. However, she soon became Matisse’s right-hand woman, assisting him in his work and helping him through creative and personal crises. It was Delektorskaya who inspired Matisse to return to painting after a period of doubt and uncertainty. She became his muse and model.
Pink Nude can be regarded as a perfect example of Matisse’s mature Fauvism. The simplified shapes, bold lines, and decorative blue fabric create a harmonious composition. Matisse’s interest in the human form is evident in this work, as he wrote: “What interests me most is neither still life nor landscape, but the human figure. It is that which best permits me to express my almost religious awe towards human beings.”
What I dream of is an art of balance, of purity and serenity devoid of troubling or depressing subject matter… a soothing, calming influence on the mind, rather like a good armchair which provides relaxation from physical fatigue. Henri Matisse Henri Matisse, Notes d’un peintre , 1908
- 20th century
- Henri Matisse
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Valeria Kumekina
An art lover, a bookworm, a flaneur and a daydreamer from Moscow. She is obssesed with the period of la Belle Époque and Marcel Proust. She believes that The Fabulous Destiny of Amélie Poulain shaped her personality and probably she was born 100 years later.
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The case of the upside down matisse at moma.
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Monet in London, Matisse in Basel, Frankenthaler in Florence — podcast
A chat with the curator of a new show featuring monet's thames views—in the very room where many were painted, plus trips to basel and florence for 'matisse: invitation to the voyage' and 'helen frankenthaler: painting without rules'.
Henri Matisse, Luxe, calme et volupté , 1904
© Succession H. Matisse / 2024, ProLitteris, Zurich. Photo: © RMN-Gra
From breaking news and insider insights to exhibitions and events around the world, the team at The Art Newspaper picks apart the art world’s big stories with the help of special guests. An award-winning podcast hosted by Ben Luke.
This week, three major international shows: Claude Monet’s Thames views in London, the Henri Matisse retrospective in Basel and Helen Frankenthaler in Florence.
The former is a gathering of Monet’s views of the Thames—looking from his hotel room at the Savoy— that has just opened at the Courtauld Gallery in London. Ben Luke speaks to the show's curator, Karen Serres, in the very hotel room where Monet made many of the paintings.
Smoke on the water: Waterloo Bridge, Gray Weather (1900), Claude Monet Art Institute of Chicago/Art Resource, NY/Scala, Florence
Meanwhile, a rare European retrospective of Henri Matisse’s work has opened at the Beyeler Foundation in Basel. Ben Luke went to Basel and spoke to Raphaël Bouvier, the show's curator.
Henri Matisse, Poissons rouges et sculpture , 1912
© Succession H. Matisse / 2024, ProLitteris, Zurich Photo: Digital image, The Museum of Modern Art, New York/Scala, Florence
And this episode’s Work of the Week is Mediterranean Thoughts (1960) one of the paintings in Helen Frankenthaler: Painting without Rules , a new exhibition at the Palazzo Strozzi in Florence. The Art Newspaper ’s associate digital editor, Alexander Morrison spoke to Douglas Dreishpoon, who organised the show.
Mediterranean Thoughts (1960), Helen Frankenthaler
Courtesy of Palazzo Strozzi
- Monet and London: Views of the Thames , Courtauld Gallery, London, until 19 January 2025.
- Matisse – Invitation to the Voyage , Beyeler Foundation, Basel, Switzerland, until 26 January 2025.
- Helen Frankenthaler: Painting Without Rules , Palazzo Strozzi, Florence, until 26 January 2025.
IMAGES
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Sailboat and Sailors (Voilier et marins) Henri Matisse French. 1905 Not on view View more. Due to rights restrictions, this image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded. ... Artist: Henri Matisse (French, Le Cateau-Cambrésis 1869-1954 Nice) Date: 1905. Medium: Graphite and ink on paper. Dimensions: 13 × 8 1/4 in. (33 × 21 ...
1953. Type. Paper-cut. Dimensions. 13.84 cm × 10.33 cm (5.4 in × 4.1 in) Location. New York, Museum of Modern Art. The Boat (French: Le Bateau) is a paper-cut from 1953 by Henri Matisse. The picture is composed from pieces of paper cut out of sheets painted with gouache, and was created during the last years of Matisse's life.
Artwork Details. Title: Young Sailor II. Artist: Henri Matisse (French, Le Cateau-Cambrésis 1869-1954 Nice) Date: 1906. Medium: Oil on canvas. Dimensions: 39 7/8 × 32 11/16 in. (101.3 × 83 cm) Classification: Paintings. Credit Line: Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection, 1998. Accession Number: 1999.363.41.
In the distance is a fortification, known as Vauban's Citadel, which continues to dominate the harbor today. This was one of Matisse's first paintings to adopt what he described as a palette of "rainbow colors." Note the line of red along the side of the boat in the foreground. Matisse spent three summers in Brittany during the mid-1890s.
About Sailboats. "Sailboats" is an artwork by Henri Matisse, created in the year 1906. The piece exemplifies the Post-Impressionist movement and falls within the landscape genre. Matisse, renowned for his use of color and fluid aesthetic, captures the essence of scenic maritime activity in this painting. The artwork presents a serene view ...
Please note that not all records are complete as research on the collection is ongoing. Barnes Foundation Collection: Henri Matisse. The Black Boat (Le Bateau noir) -- The Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia is home to one of the world's greatest collections of impressionist, post-impressionist and early modern paintings.
The remarkable career of Henri Matisse, one of the most influential artists of the twentieth century, whose stylistic innovations (along with those of Pablo Picasso) fundamentally altered the course of modern art and affected the art of several generations of younger painters, spanned almost six and a half decades.His vast oeuvre encompassed painting, drawing, sculpture, graphic arts (as ...
Artist: Henri Matisse French, 1869-1954. About this artwork Status Currently Off View Department Prints and Drawings Artist Henri Matisse Title Boats ... 1905 • Grounded Fishing Boat, 1905; Cat. 5 Boats, 1905; Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge.
Sailboats is one of artworks by Henri Matisse. Artwork analysis, large resolution images, user comments, interesting facts and much more. ... Quick search helps finding an artist, picture, user or article and prompts your previous searches. log in. ... Henri Matisse • Painting, 1906. Embed. Short link. QR-code. Facebook. Twitter. View in ...
Today in 1961, final preparations were being made at New York's Museum of Modern Art for the opening of an exhibition entitled "The Last Works of Henri Matisse". Forty of the artist's gouache ...
Sailboats are visible on the sea, as seen from Matisse's hotel window overlooking the harbor. He returned to the motif of the open window repeatedly in Paris, notably during his years in Nice and Etretat, and in his later years, particularly in the late 1940s. Henri Matisse was fond of painting open windows and did so throughout his career.
Henri Matisse in 10 Paintings. Valeria Kumekina 19 June 20249 min Read. Henri Matisse, Music, 1910, Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg, Russia. A renowned artist, Henri Matisse was one of the most prominent figures of the avant-garde movement. He is widely considered the father of Fauvism. His work is known for its vibrant colors and joyful nature.
Henri Matisse. The vista may look out to a small French fishing port—but, really, this window opens on the future of painting in the twentieth century. Henri Matisse painted Open Window, Collioure in the summer of 1905, when he and André Derain worked together near the Spanish border. The light-filled scene is vibrant and inviting.
Museum of Modern Art. [Image shown right side up.] In October and November of 1961, only one person among the 116,000 visitors to the Museum of Modern Art's exhibition "The Last Works of Henri Matisse" noticed that one of the most elegant of the great artist's late career cutouts, Le Bateau ("The Boat") was hanging upside down.
From Baterbys, Henri Matisse, Bateau (Boat) (1952), Lithograph on paper, 14 3/20 × 10 1/4 × 1 in. Skip to Main Content. Get the app, get the art. Get the app, and find the art you love. ... Perhaps the most influential artist of the 20th century, Pablo Picasso may be best known for pioneering Cubism and fracturing the two-dimensional picture ...
A chat with the curator of a new show featuring Monet's Thames views—in the very room where many were painted, plus trips to Basel and Florence for 'Matisse: Invitation to the Voyage' and 'Helen ...
10. High-relief on the Ruins on Mamayev Hill. 99. Points of Interest & Landmarks. By BrakiWorldTraveler. This monument, better say complex of monuments is at the second flight of stairs (out of total 200 stairs which mark... 11. Alley of the Heroes. 175.
Shopping Malls in Volgograd Oblast. Things to do ranked using Tripadvisor data including reviews, ratings, number of page views, and user location. 1. Mall Aquarelle. 2. Komsomall. 3. Volga Mall. It has a very large supermarket, the best sports shop in town, a good bookshop, and electronics shop and a lot of...
Answered: Hello I am visiting Volgograd in late November and want to photograph the giant monument to Lenin near the Volga-Don Canal entrance from the perspective of the water. Does anyone know a river-taxi service that can be contacted in Volgograd, or...
Volgograd (Russian: Волгоград, IPA: [vəɫɡɐˈɡrat] ⓘ), formerly Tsaritsyn (Царицын; IPA: [tsɐˈrʲitsɨn]) (1589-1925) and Stalingrad (Сталинград; IPA: [stəlʲɪnˈɡrat] ⓘ) (1925-1961), is the largest city and the administrative centre of Volgograd Oblast, Russia.The city lies on the western bank of the Volga, covering an area of 859.4 square kilometres ...
Here's where things stand as of 1 p.m. EDT: Storm tracker: Helene, downgraded to a tropical storm, was about 105 miles northeast of Atlanta, Georgia and moving north, according to the latest update from the National Hurricane Center. The storm is slowing down and is expected to stall over the Tennessee Valley through the weekend.