Composition
Henri Matisse
French, 1869–1954
Issy-les-Moulineaux, 1915
An oil on canvas in which Matisse simplifies an interior scene—curtain, window, and floor—into broad, flat planes of color to test balance between line, shape, and chromatic harmony.
You first notice a vast ochre field pierced by a soft blue oval and bordered by a mint-green frame and a sinuous patterned stripe at left, so the eye drifts across large, flat color areas interrupted by spare, calligraphic lines.
Made during the 1910s, this pared-down composition shows Matisse moving toward decorative abstraction and distilled form, a step that helped pave the way to his later cut-outs and influenced the language of modernist abstraction.
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
57 1/2 x 38 1/8" (146 x 97 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
Gift of Jo Carole and Ronald S. Lauder; Nelson A. Rockefeller Bequest, gift of Mr. and Mrs. William H. Weintraub, and Mary Sisler Bequest (all by exchange)
Accession
355.1997
Palette
Art Terms
Exhibitions
