Matisse, 1941 - 1954

Matisse, 1941-1954” highlights the artist’s final years of creation, between 1941 and 1954, through an exhibition of unprecedented scope in France. It reveals the multidisciplinary nature of his practice during this period, bringing together in particular an exceptional ensemble of gouache cut-outs. The exhibition also presents paintings, drawings, illustrated books, textiles and stained glass, all embodying this new dynamic. Never before in his artistic practice had Matisse been so prolific in the variety of techniques and media he used.

At nearly 80 years old, Henri Matisse reinvented himself through the medium of gouache cut-outs. These proved to be an autonomous visual language, able to attain the universal through its simplicity. The technique was well-suited both to reproduction and the requirements of monumental commissions, lending itself to multiple applications and allowing the artist to fully express the decorative dimension of his work. The exhibition shows this underlying transformation, which gives everything it touches a sense of breadth and breath, from the smallest works, which seem to spring out of nowhere with a snip of Matisse's scissors, to vast, more elaborate compositions.

The exhibition further demonstrates that, far from having “replaced painting with cut-outs,” as is often mistakenly written, painting remained at the heart of his work, becoming ever more expansive in its space and generous in its colours.

The circuit brings together over 230 works from the rich collection of Centre Pompidou, private collections and national and international institutions, including loans never or very rarely seen in France (Hammer Museum in Los Angeles, MoMA, the MET, National Gallery of Art in Washington, the Barnes Foundation, Fondation Beyeler, and more).