This Month in
Art Literacy
Henri Matisse
Henri Matisse (mah TEESS)
1869-1954
French Modern Artist
H
enri Matisse is considered one of the greatest
and most innovative artists of the twentieth
century. When he was 20 and recovering from appendicitis, his mother bought him a box of paints to pass
the time. It awakened a passion within him and ultimately caused him to abandon his study of law to pursue a career in art. Through his long painting career,
he also excelled at sculpture, illustration, graphics and
scenic design.
Matisse’s artistic career was long and varied, covering
many different styles of painting from Impressionism
to near abstraction. Early in his career he was associated with a group of artists called the Fauvists, whose
paintings were renowned for their bold and unusual
use of color. He soon abandoned Fauvism, as well as
three-dimensional effects, in favor of dramatically
simplified flat shapes and strong patterns with areas
of pure color. His subject matter always reflected his
inner calm; scenes through open windows, portraits of
women, still lifes scenes and the dance were subjects
he repeated throughout his career. In his last years,
Matisse was unable to stand for long periods to paint.
Confined to a wheelchair, he created pictures of
brightly colored paper, cut into fanciful shapes and
glued into large-scale collages.
A contemporary of Picasso, who considered him his
only rival, Matisse sought to eliminate nonessentials
and retain only a subject’s most fundamental qualities.
He explained his technique as “condensation of sensations.” His bold colors and simplified shapes have
influenced the 20th century artists who followed him.
Vocabulary
Fauvism—A term, meaning “wild beasts” in French,
that was given to a group of artists in Paris in 1905.
Their style was characterized by brilliant colors,
expressive brush work, distorted forms and perspective and flat, linear compositions. The Fauvists experimented with freer, more individual ways of expressing emotion in their paintings.
Simplification—A process that reduces an object to
its plainest or least complicated form.
Collage—Artwork made by pasting pieces of paper
or other materials to a flat surface.
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Art Elements
Color—Color has three properties: hue, which is the
name of the color; value, which refers to the lightness
or darkness of a hue; and intensity, which refers to the
purity, or saturation, of the hue. Warm colors are those
from yellow to red-violet on the color wheel. In a
painting they seem to advance or come forward. Cool
colors are those from yellow-green to violet on the
color wheel, and they seem to recede, or go back into
space. Complimentary colors appear opposite each
other on the color wheel (such as orange and blue, red
and green, yellow and violet). When used together,
complementary colors seem brighter and stronger. In
his paintings, Matisse used solid areas of intense color
to create simplified shapes and complementary colors
to create contrast.
Shape—An area that is contained within an implied
line and is defined or identified by color or value
changes. Shapes have two dimensions, length and
width, and can be geometric (triangles, rectangles,
circles) or organic (found in nature, such as leaves,
trees, mountains, clouds, animals, etc.). Shapes in
Matisse’s paintings were often simplified areas of
solid color, while his paper cut-outs were masterpieces of positive and negative shapes.
Art Principles
Unity—Visual unity is one of the most important
aspects of well-designed art. Unity is the cohesive
quality that makes an artwork feel complete and finished. Some techniques that artist use to achieve unity
are: a dominant color scheme; clustered elements; an
overall similar surface treatment of brushstrokes; and
the continuation of lines and edges from one shape to
another. Matisse used several of these techniques to
unify his works of art.
Repetition/Rhythm—The repetition of elements
(color, shape, line, value, space, texture) moves the
viewer’s eye across a work of art and creates rhythm.
Regular rhythm is the repetition of elements that are
the same or nearly the same in even intervals.
Irregular rhythm is the repetition of elements that are
the same or nearly the same in uneven intervals.
Progressive rhythms are those in which the elements
change size as they progress or move across space.
Repetition of colors and shapes creates rhythms in
Matisse’s paintings, adding visual excitement and a
sense of unity.
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Henri Matisse
H
enri Matisse was born on December 31, 1869 at
Le Cateau-Cambresis, in the north of France.
His father was a successful grain merchant who sent
young Henri to school in a nearby town to study Greek
and Latin. When he was 18, the young man was sent to
Paris to study law. Two years later, he returned home
and worked as a clerk in a law office, copying legal
documents.
When he was 20 years old, Matisse became sick with
appendicitis. During his convalescence, he was confined to bed in the hospital and became friendly with
his neighbor, a man who passed his time painting
“chromos,” an early and less mechanical version of
painting by numbers. Asking his mother for a box of
paints, Matisse attempted his own painting and copied
a reproduction of a river and a mill. He was pleased
with the result and signed it “Essitam,” his name in
reverse. The experience awakened in the young man a
passion he had not felt for his previous studies, and he
began to learn all he could about painting. Less than a
year later, he left home against his father’s wishes and
abandoned his secure career in law to become an
artist. As he left for Paris to pursue this new direction
in his life, his father shouted at his departing train,
“You’ll starve!”
Matisse was not accepted at the Ecole des Beaux Arts,
the state-run art school, enrolling instead at the
Academie Julien where he studied under the artist
William Bouguereau, one of the most conventional
painters of the day. Matisse soon came to feel that
Bouguereau put too much emphasis on copying his
own works, so the following year he left to spend his
time copying the works of art that the Ecole des
Beaux Arts made available for students. It was there
he was noticed by the artist Gustave Moreau, who
invited Matisse to attend his classes and thus arranged
for his acceptance into the school. Moreau’s students
spent hours copying the masters in the Louvre, but he
also encouraged them to draw from real life and did
not insist that his students adopt his style. As a result,
he was much admired and respected by them; Matisse
stayed with him until Moreau’s death in 1898.
During the first ten years that he was a student and an
aspiring artist, Matisse’s father gave him a modest
allowance which he supplemented by painting and
selling reproductions of famous masters. In 1898,
when he was 28 years old, Matisse married Amelie
Parayre, with whom he had a daughter four years ear-
Revised 09/02
Biography
lier. She proved to be a person of great kindness and
possessed the necessary enthusiasm to encourage her
husband during difficult times. She also opened a
millinery shop in 1900, following the birth of their
third child, to help support the family when her fatherin-law finally withdrew his financial support.
In 1904, Matisse had his first one-man show at the
avant-garde gallery of Ambroise Vollard, a Paris art
dealer. In 1905, he exhibited at the autumn salon in
Paris with his friends André Derain, Marurice de
Vlaminck and Albert Marquet. The style of their
paintings caused a storm of controversy. The realistic
reflection of nature was not their aim; color was the
major element of their paintings. They were exhibited
in a hall in which there was also a sculpture in the
classical style of Donatello. A critic is reported to
have said, “ah, a Donatello among the wild beasts.”
They immediately became known as the Fauves
(French for “wild beasts”). Matisse received the brunt
of the criticism with his portrait of his wife, “Woman
with a Hat.” The painting shows Madame Matisse
posed as in a formal portrait, but bold patches of lurid
color rendered her features and dress. It may have
been scandalous to the critics, but the notoriety saved
Matisse from financial ruin. American expatriate
Gertrude Stein and her siblings Leo and Michael all
bought works by Matisse and encouraged others to do
the same. Matisse was invited to join the intellectual
and artistic group that gathered at the home of
Gertrude and Leo and was thus introduced to collectors who bought his works and helped to spread his
fame throughout Europe and America. He was also
encouraged to take on students, and from 1907 to
1909 he took on some sixty students. He eventually
closed his school, however, deciding he would rather
be a painter than a professor.
Matisse, who had become known as the “king of the
Fauves” soon left Fauvism behind to explore new
worlds. He traveled to Italy, Morocco, Russia and the
United States. He continued to experiment with his
paintings and was influenced by the arts and crafts he
saw during his travels. The Islamic arts and oriental
motifs he saw in northern Africa provided backgrounds for many of his paintings. In addition,
Matisse was impressed by the light and colors he saw
in the region, observing how flat everything looked in
the overwhelming strong light. He felt free to let his
paintings reflect that lack of perspective. The background became as important as the objects he painted
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Henri Matisse
Biography
and there was no regard for spacial depth.
Throughout his career, Matisse painted and interpreted what he saw around him. He painted still lifes and
interiors (often with a view through an open window)
and he painted women. While he often distorted reality, his work was still representational. He used his art
to convey a sense of serenity as the world moved into
the troubled times surrounding the two world wars.
In 1941, Matisse suffered from an intestinal illness
that left him so weak he was virtually an invalid for
the rest of his life. His ability to paint was limited, so
his art took a new direction and he began to create collages and stencils of cut-out paper that had been painted with gouache (opaque watercolor paint) by his
assistants. Matisse then arranged the shapes on a
white paper background. Although the cut-outs
looked simple, the arrangements were assembled with
great care, creating compostions that were both playful and powerful.
Matisse used images from the world around him and
from his memories to create his cut-out pictures.
These simple works of art were the perfect final form
for an artist whose career was spent trying to simplify
his art. Creative until the end, Matisse died at his
home in Nice on November 3rd, 1954.
Bibliography
Henri Matisse, edited and produced by Ingo F. Walther, ©
1993 by Benedikt Taschen Verlag, Köln, Germany
Matisse, by Jean Selz, © 1990 by Crown Publishers, Inc.,
New York
Getting to Know the World’s Greatest Artists: Henr i
Matisse, by Mike Venezia, © 1997 by Mike Venezia and
published by Children’s Press, New York
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Henri Matisse
Scanning Questions
Scanning Slide
Red Room (Harmony in Red)
1908, oil on canvas, 70-7/8” x 86-5/8”,
Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia
Art Elements: What you see.
Color
•
•
Is the color scheme predominately warm or cool? (Warm.)
Where do you see complementary color contrast? (The green outside the window next to the red walls of the
interior; the blue arabesque pattern next to the orange fruit, chair seat, and servant’s hair.)
Shape
•
•
What geometric shapes do you see? (Round fruits, rectangular window and the house in the distance
and chairs.)
Describe the organic shapes you see. (Trees, long curving shapes of the blue pattern, the servant, the flowers.)
Art Principles: How the elements are arranged.
Unity
•
•
What is the single most unifying element in this painting? (The color red.)
What else contributes to the unity? (The repetition of the blue pattern in the walls and tablecloth;
repetition of yellow color in the fruits and flowers on the table and the flowers outside the window.)
Repetition/Rhythm
•
•
Where do you see shape repetition? (The repeating blue lines on the walls and tablecloth and in the trees; the
repeated shapes of the fruits on the table; the slats on the chair backs.)
Which repetition is regular and which is irregular? (The blue pattern creates a regular rhythm and the
fruit shapes create an irregular rhythm.)
Technical Properties: How it was made.
•
•
Do you think this painting is large or small? (Large, approximately 6 feet by 7 feet.)
Can you find where the tablecloth ends and the wall begins? (A faint dark horizontal line marks the spot.)
Expressive Properties: How it makes you feel.
•
•
Would you like a room like this in your house?
Would you feel the same about this painting if the walls and table cloth were painted different colors?
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Henri Matisse
Slide Images
4
1
3
2
6
7
5
8
9
10
13
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12
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Henri Matisse
1.
Slide List
Photo of Matisse Working on Paper Cutouts, Age 83
This photo was taken shortly before Matisse’s death. Although surgery for intestinal cancer at age 72 left him mostly confined to a wheelchair, Matisse’s desire to create did not
diminish as he dealt with the complications of age and illness. He is seen here working on
pieces of cut-out paper that became his medium when he could no longer stand to paint.
An assistant painted the paper with opaque watercolor (or gouache, pronounced “gwash”),
and Matisse cut out shapes that the assistant helped to arrange and then glue onto large
pieces of white paper. (You can see his assistant sitting next to him at the left edge of the
photograph.) The collages (pasted down assemblages of cut paper) that Matisse created in
the last years of his life were masterpieces of shape and bold color.
2.
Woman with the Hat
1905, oil on canvas, 31-3/4” x 23-1/2”, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art,
California
In 1905, Matisse and his colleagues, including André Derain, Maurice de Vlaminck, and
Albert Marquet, were experimenting with the expressive potential of color, and they all
submitted paintings to the autumn Salon in Paris. Their paintings were not well received,
and were considered “orgies of pure colors,” according to a jeering public, who considered the paintings primitive, brutal, and violent. The artists themselves were dubbed
fauves (“wild beasts”), and the room in which the paintings were exhibited became le cage
(“the cage”).
The term fauve, actually coined by a generally sympathetic critic, has stuck. It has become
the term describing a style that, while short-lived, was the first avant-garde wave of the
twentieth century. The jeering audiences at the Salon got an early look at what the new
century would bring; artists would continue to use color in totally non-conventional ways.
Where do you see
complementary
color contrast?
This painting, one of Matisse’s contributions to the Salon exhibit, is a portrait of Madame
Matisse. She is shown in a pose that was typical of formal bourgeois portraits of the day,
but this is not a typical portrait. Large areas of bright color render her features, dress and
hat with little regard for subtle details. All the shapes have been simplified by solid areas
of paint applied with broad strokes.
Matisse’s use of complementary color combinations gives energy to this painting. He uses
the color green to shade his wife’s face along her nose and above her mouth, and then paints
her upper lip a bright red, creating a complementary color contrast (also known as simultaneous contrast) that gives emphasis to her face. Another such contrast is seen in the purple
used in her hat and dress surrounded by the yellow color he used through her face and in the
background. The repetition of these colors also creates a rhythm that moves our eyes around
the painting, and it also gives the painting a cohesive quality to create unity.
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Henri Matisse
3.
Slide List
The Open Window, Collioure
1905, oil on canvas, 21-3/4” x 18-1/8”, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D. C.
This painting was among the very first fauve works. It was painted during the summer of
1905, when Matisse, together with André Derain, worked in the small Mediterranean fishing port of Collioure, near the Spanish border.
The composition in this painting creates a motif that Matisse repeated many times: the
view through an open window. Here the interior of the room is unimportant; it merely provides a frame for the colorful view that is full of light—inviting and vibrant. Through the
window, small boats bob on pink waves under a sky banded with turquoise, pink, and periwinkle; the colors of the boats are reflected in the glass of the open doors as rectangles of
smeary green, watery red, and lilac.
The colors Matisse used in this painting are hardly the colors of nature. The saturated colors of fauve paintings—all created between about 1904 and 1908—were not intended to
be descriptive of nature. Colors were generally unblended, without the subtle shading that
would have suggested three-dimensions. Depth was unimportant; it was color and rhythmic brush strokes that created the energy in these paintings.
Where do you see
contrasts of organic
and geometric
shapes?
Warm colors dominate this painting. The red of the doors and surrounding walls advances
towards the viewer, as do the red sails on the boats outside. Only occasional streaks of
cool blue, green and violet halt the advance.
Contrasts between organic and geometric shapes repeat in this painting. The geometric
shape of the doorway creates a frame for the organic shapes of flowers on the terrace.
Streaks of brown and green suggest a trellised vine that create another rectangular frame
for the scene of the sailboats on the water beyond. This repetition of shape, along with
the repetition of warm colors, contributes to the unity of the painting.
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Henri Matisse
4.
Slide List
Red Room (Harmony in Red)
1908, oil on canvas, 70-7/8” x 86-5/8”, Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia
During a visit to North Africa, Matisse noticed that the intense sunlight seemed to flatten
images and eliminate any sense of depth. Nowhere is this more vividly demonstrated than
in this painting. Here we see only flat shapes in an interior scene of intense color. The
wine carafes, the fruits and plates on the table, and even the features of the servant to the
right are nothing more than simplified flat shapes of bright color.
The color red both dominates this painting and contributes to its unity. The warm red
repeats on the wall and the tablecloth, with their cool blue decorative pattern. This pattern of warm and cool color contrast (temperature contrast) commands over three quarters
of the painting, seeming to create one large continuous surface. Only the objects on the
table and the position of the chair behind it communicate the shape and position of
the table.
What is the main
element that gives
this painting
its unity?
The only other interruption to the red color is the window in the top left corner of the
painting, with its open view of the green countryside beyond. This creates a complementary color contrast (simultaneous contrast) that gives the painting its energy. Additional
complementary color contrasts occur where orange appears next to blue, such as the
maid’s hair next to the blue curving lines on the wall and the oranges next to the blue pattern on the tablecloth.
Fun fact: This painting was originally painted with green tones and was called “Harmony
in Green.” It was transformed into a “Harmony in Blue” and was publicly exhibited and
sold to Sergei Shchukin, a Russian textile importer. A year later, Matisse convinced
Shchukin to let him transform it once again, this time into “Harmony in Red.” The fact
that Matisse painted over a predominantly blue background rather than on a fresh white
canvas very likely influenced his choice of this particular red.
5.
The Conversation
c. 1910, oil on canvas, 69-5/8” x 7’1-3/8”, The Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg,
Russia
In this stark painting, flat shapes and large areas of repeated color dominate this scene. A
man and a woman (presumably Matisse and his wife) are positioned in a balanced
arrangement on either side of an open window. Their organic shapes are static and simplified, as are the simplified organic shapes outside the contrasting geometric window.
This shape contrast creates an irregular rhythm that gives the painting interest.
Cool blue color dominates this painting. It covers the interior walls of the scene and
repeats in patches through the window to the outside. This repetition contributes to the
unity of the painting. The use of the orange-brown outside the window creates a complementary color contrast with the dominant blue to give the painting an energy that is lacking in the interior scene. The warm colors used outside the window also seem to advance
towards the viewer, while the blue interior wall seems to recede. This further emphasizes
the vitality outside of the room which is lacking in the interior. The blue color is also used
symbolically; in the calm scene of the conversation between husband and wife, it suggests
sadness or melancholy.
Revised 02/06
Which colors
advance towards
the viewer?
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Henri Matisse
6.
Slide List
The Dance
1909, oil on canvas, 8’ 6-1/2” x 12’ 9-1/2”, The Museum of Modern Art, New York
This is monumental image (at 8-1/2 feet by almost 13 feet) of joy and energy. It was also
strikingly daring; its simplifications of the human body were attacked as inept or willfully crude. Also criticized was the work’s visual flatness: the elimination of perspective and
the use of foreshortening makes nearer and farther figures the same size. But these are no
ordinary dancers; they are almost mythical creatures in a timeless landscape. Dance,
Matisse once said, meant “life and rhythm.”
Here, the figure at the left moves purposefully, while the other dancers seem so light they
nearly float. The woman at the far right is barely sketched in, her foot dissolving in runny
paint as she reels backward. The arm of the dancer in the right foreground literally stretches as it reaches toward the leader’s hand. This continuation of outstretched arms creates a
circular line around the entire canvas that our eye wants to follow. The repetition of human
shapes creates a regular rhythm that helps us sense the motion and energy of the dancers.
Where did Matisse
create a regular
rhythm in this
painting?
Color also helps to emphasize the dancers. Their bodies are shapes of light orange color
that advance toward the viewer. Their color also creates a complementary color contrast
with the flat background of cool blue sky to further suggest the energy and vitality of the
dance. This contrast stretches across the entire width of the painting and, along with the
repetition of the dancers’ shapes, helps to unify the composition.
7.
The Pink Studio
1911, oil on canvas, 70-3/8” x 87”, Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow, Russia
This painting of Matisse’s studio reflects his interests and his passion. His passion was his
art, and several of his artworks, including sculptures, were included in this scene. He was
also intrigued by the patterns in Islamic art and oriental rugs, which are also represented
here. This room would have looked different if painted by any other artist. It was
Matisse’s unique use of color and pattern that draws our attention to the objects in his
workspace.
The viewer enters this painting on the diagonal line of the yellow carpet in the left foreground, and is visually moved in a clockwise motion around the painting by the placement
of similar yellow color. The pink walls and red floor continue across the entire width of
the painting, lending unity to the work.
Describe how
Matisse used
shape contrast
in this painting.
Shape contrasts also repeat in this composition. Geometric shapes (the oriental rug, the
folding screen and the dark blue fabric draped over it, the canvases on the left side and
right sides of the screen) are decorated with bright organic shapes. Even the window
behind the screen shows a suggestion of the organic shapes outside.
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Henri Matisse
8.
Slide List
The Goldfish
1911, oil on canvas, 57-7/8” x 38-5/8”, Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow,
Russia
Because the images in this painting are seen from such a close vantage point, Matisse’s
shapes are more representational here. We can clearly identify the plants that surround the
goldfish. However, Matisse still was unconcerned by perspective, and we almost expect
the glass container of water and fish to slide off the table or for the table to collapse on
top of its tiny legs.
What is particularly striking about this painting is the complementary color contrast of the
red fish surrounded by the green plants (simultaneous contrast). The positive shapes of
the fish rest against the negative shape of reflected green to create an energy that almost
suggests their movement in the water. Their warm color also advances towards the viewer, making them the focus of the painting.
Shape contrasts are also evident. Organic shapes surround the geometric shapes of the
glass jar and round table top. Their repetition around the central focal point helps contribute to the unity of the painting.
9.
Find one organic
shape and one
geometric shape
that repeat in
this painting.
Zorah on the Terrace
1913, oil on canvas, 45-1/2” x 38-1/8”, Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow,
Russia
From 1912 to 1913, Matisse spent time in Morocco, and the images and colors of the
Moroccan landscape were reflected in his paintings. His paintings of North Africa were
simple compositions with limited color schemes. He painted this work on a rooftop terrace under intense mid-day light.
In this painting, Matisse has created a sense of space and tranquility. He simplifies his
shapes without regard for three dimensions. He limits his color scheme to primarily cool
blues, which helps to emphasize the warm tones of Zorah’s face, her slippers and the goldfish through complementary color contrast (simultaneous contrast). Shape contrast also
adds interest: Zorah’s organic shape sits upon a geometric shape; the organically shaped
robe she wears is covered with geometric patterns; in front of her, goldfish, more organic
shapes, swim in a round vessel. This repetition of shape contrast adds interest to the
painting. There is also repetition of shapes; note how the shape of her slippers repeats the
shape of the goldfish. This, in addition to the cool blue used throughout the background
and through Zorah’s robe, helps to unify the composition.
How does color
unify this painting?
Fun Fact: Matisse used the motif of the goldfish in many of his paintings. They were one
of his favorite subjects, and he included a vessel of goldfish in many of his interior scenes.
They were used as symbols in Oriental culture, which Matisse adored.
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Henri Matisse
10.
Slide List
Interior at Nice (Interior with Phonograph)
1924, oil on canvas, 39-3/4” x 32”, Private collection
The composition in this painting repeats the motif Matisse used many times: the view
through a window. However, unlike the view in “The Open Window, Collioure” (slide
#3), here the vantage point is from deep within the room. What catches our attention is the
repetition of color, pattern and shape within the room itself.
Matisse has chosen a predominately warm color scheme for this painting. Warm reds are
repeated throughout the scene: in the design of the tapestry drape across the doorway; in
the stripes of the tablecloth; in the pattern of the pineapple’s rind and the fruits on the
table; on the side of the phonograph (on the right side of the painting); and in the carpet
and on the mirror’s frame in the room beyond. This repetition of color contributes to the
unity of the painting.
Complementary color contrasts (simultaneous contrasts) also give vitality to this static
view. Orange and blue appear together along the wall on the left side of the painting, and
red fruits rest on a green tray in the middle of the red striped tablecloth.
Which part of the
painting seems to
recede from the
viewer?
Although the shapes are simplified and flat, Matisse has created the illusion of depth in
this painting. The warm colors in the room seem to advance toward the viewer, while the
cool blues of the wall to the rear and of the sky through the window seem to recede, contributing to the sense of depth.
Fun Fact: Matisse first visited Nice, on the French Riviera, in 1916. Although his travels
took him around Europe, he always returned to Nice and eventually made it his permanent home.
11.
Lady in Blue
1937, oil on canvas, 36-1/2” x 29”, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Pennsylvania
By 1937, Europe was in turmoil as the aggression of the Nazis in Germany pushed the
world towards war. Matisse continued to express calmness and tranquility in his art as an
antedote to the unrest that surrounded him. In this painting, he captured the calm pose of
his model, a young Russian woman named Lydia Delectorskaya (who originally came to
work as his secretary in 1933).
There is no sense of depth in this painting at all. In fact, there is a deliberate attempt at making the images as flat as possible. Matisse said, “a painting is flat; why not let it be flat?”
Every shape in this painting is rendered by large areas of color without regard for accurate
proportions or shading, and its simplicity is accentuated by the limited color palette.
Shape contrast is created by the placement of organic shapes next to geometric shapes;
Lydia’s organic shape sits in front of geometric patterns. The geometric patterns (created
by merely scraping into the paint rather than painting them on) repeat across the entire
width of the painting to create a regular rhythm that is calm and unifying. Similarly the
curve of the chair’s arms is repeated in reverse on the skirt of the dress. The unity is also
reinforced by repeating color: the blue of Lydia’s dress repeats in the picture frames at the
top edge of the painting; and the red of the chair repeats on the background wall.
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Where do you
see repetition in
this painting?
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Henri Matisse
12.
Slide List
The Dream
1940, oil on canvas, 31-7/8” x 25-1/2”, Private collection
During the war years, Matisse could have left France, but he chose to remain in Nice.
Amazingly, the turmoil of the war never appeared in any of Matisse’s paintings; he
remained true to his desire to paint pictures of calm and tranquility. As he wrote in 1908,
“What I dream of is an art of balance, or purity and serenity, free of any troubling subject
matter.” That philosophy is certainly evident in this painting. It is one of several works in
which his model was dressed in an embroidered Romanian blouse that he found in a second hand store.
In this painting, the woman’s shape wraps around the painting in a pose that is accomplished only because Matisse is unconcerned by the accurate proportions of the human
body. The pose is tranquil, but the viewer’s eye remains active following the circular
shape that is created by the position of the woman’s arms. Complementary color contrast
between yellow and violet (simultaneous contrast) also gives energy to this calm scene.
What geometric
shape is suggested
by the position of
the woman’s body?
Matisse has used repetition of color and pattern to achieve unity in this painting. The violet color underneath the resting subject continues above her at the top of the painting, and
yellow appears both on the back of her blouse and underneath her resting shape. The wavy
lines of embroidery on her blouse also repeat in the simplified waves of her hair.
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Henri Matisse
13.
Slide List
Icarus (from “Jazz”)
1947, paper pochoir, 16-1/2” x 10-1/2”, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
While recuperating from two major operations in 1941 and 1942, Matisse concentrated on
a technique he had devised earlier: papiers découpés (paper cutouts). He was no longer
able to stand for long periods of time, so cut paper became his medium, and it provided
him with a new and exciting form of expression.
In 1947, he published a book entitled “Jazz,” which was a collection of 20 paper cut-out
images that were accompanied by text containing his memories and thoughts on painting.
In this image from “Jazz,” the mythological figure Icarus (a boy who was given wax
wings, but flew too close to the sun and fell back to earth) is presented as a positive shape
floating against the negative shape of the royal blue sky. His organic shape commands
almost the entire space. The viewer identifies the red dot as his heart. Its color is emphasized against the black body. We recognize the spiky yellow shapes as repeated suns, but
like the shape of the heart, Matisse chose not to use the easily recognized shapes that we
readily associate with these items. That he created new shapes is a testament to the simplicity of his artistry. He repeats the yellow suns at uneven intervals, creating an irregular
rhythm that moves the viewer’s eye through the composition. Their repetition contributes
to its unity.
Where do you see
positive shapes?
Fun Fact: Although Matisse’s illustrations for the book were collages of cut and pasted
colored papers, the images were hand-colored through a series of carefully cut out stencils to reproduce them for publication. In fact, in the description of the artwork, the medium is listed as pochoir, which is French for stencil.
14.
Trapeze Performers (from “Jazz”)
1947, paper pochoir, 16-5/8” x 25-3/4”, location unknown
In another image from “Jazz,” Matisse has created an image of trapeze performers entirely from cut out shapes of colored paper. The performers themselves are simplified yellow
shapes positioned between the two swings; their bright color stands out against a rectangular green background. Smaller red squiggle shapes rest to the left and right of the scene.
Do they perhaps symbolize the audience? The net below the performers is created by the
repetition of black geometric shapes; actually, it is the negative shape behind the black
squares that represents the net. You might not understand this collage if you didn’t know
the title, but once known, the energy and excitement of the performers is evident.
Revised 02/06
Where are the
positive and
negative shapes
in the net?
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12
Henri Matisse
15.
Slide List
Blue Nude IV
1952, gouache on paper, cut and pasted, and charcoal on white paper,
40-1/2” x 29-1/8”, Musée Matisse, Nice-Cimiez, France
This composition is one of a series of cut-out “nudes” that Matisse created over the course
of one year shortly before his death. In these paper compositions, he achieved a purity of
expression with only one color and the simplest of shapes. Matisse said, “Cutting straight
into color reminds me of what a sculptor does to his stone,” and these compositions possess a definite sculptural quality.
The figure of the nude has been created as a collage of many pieces of paper; you can see
places where several pieces have been overlapped to create the desired shape. Matisse has
left many of the pieces unconnected on the paper, allowing us to make the connection of
the entire human shape for ourselves, and the result is a positive organic blue shape upon
a white negative background shape. Curved shapes are repeated in all parts of the collage, and the overall shape of the woman is created as we visually jump over the gaps of
white background (shape continuation). The dominant blue figure is arranged to completely fill the entire 40 x 29 inch background; this contributes to the unity of the work.
Matisse’s genius found its most creative expression in this simplest of mediums, cut paper.
Revised 02/06
How did Matisse
unify this work?
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Henri Matisse
Hands-on Project
Cut Paper Collage
Goal
Create a cut paper composition using color and shape to achieve unity.
Criteria
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•
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Use both geometric and organic shapes.
Repeat color and shape to create unity.
Use negative shape as part of the composition.
Materials
•
•
•
•
•
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White construction paper or poster board
Construction paper in various primary and secondary colors, including black
Glue stick or other glue
Scissors
Pencil
Scrap paper to sketch ideas for the composition.
Procedure
Volunteers: Briefly review the elements in Matisse’s cut paper compositions: simplified symbolic shapes, both organic
and geometric; bright colors (not necessarily based on reality); repetition of elements.
1. Begin by sketching ideas for your composition on the scrap paper. Use both positive and negative shapes and
both geometric and organic shapes. Remember that you will want to use repetition of shape in your composition to achieve unity.
2. Write your name on the back of your poster board.
3. Using your sketched design as your guide, begin to cut out shapes from the colored paper. (To create a negative
shape, cut out a shape in one continuous stroke; the remaining piece is the negative shape.) Remember that you
will want to use repetition of color, as well as shape, to create unity in your final composition.
4. Arrange your shapes on your background paper. When you are satisfied with your composition, glue each shape
on to the poster board background.
5. Add a title if you wish, writing it on the back of your collage. Volunteers: If the artworks are mounted for
display, add a label that includes the title.
Revised 02/06
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