Home > ArtoftheDay Weekly > #342 - from 17 April 2014 to 23 April 2014 > How Matisse, when older, reinvented colour

Art Of The Day Weekly

#342 - from 17 April 2014 to 23 April 2014

How Matisse, when older, reinvented colour

LONDON – Matisse was bed-ridden, and weak. It was the end. Not at all! In 1947, in his bed and his pain he cut out coloured papers and had the nurse glue them to the wall. He actually perfected a new technique that kept him busy his last years. Actually, as is seen in this major exhibit at the Tate Modern, the limit is not so clear: Matisse carried out his first experiences in this field as of the 1930s, and we all know his superb later oil paintings, his open windows on luminous gardens. Nevertheless, from 1947 up to his death in 1954, these cut out papers were his main operating mode. The famous Escargot, which the Tate bought in 1962, is obviously present, but it is accompanied by nearly 120 other works: the original drawings of the artist’s book Jazz, the four very famous Nus bleus, grouped together exceptionally, the covers of the magazine “Verve” published by Tériade, la Gerbe and the gigantic Grande décoration aux masques (1953), on loan from the National Gallery in Washington – 10 meters long! A few months before his demise, Matisse was more ambitious than ever…
Henri Matisse, the Cut-Outs at the Tate Modern, from 17 April to 7 September 2014.

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