The show “Matisse, 1941–1954,” on view at the Grand Palais in Paris through July 26, follows the last chapter of the master’s career, from 1941 to 1954. Written off by his doctors in 1941, Matisse lived another thirteen years after intestinal cancer and called this period his “vita nova”—he felt he had cheated death. Sick and largely confined to bed, he turned those physical limits, together with his search for a simpler, more synthetic form, into the spark for his new and final medium: the cut-outs.

From then on, Matisse drew with embroidery scissors, cutting straight into sheets of pure color that his assistants had painted with gouache. Moving back and forth between collages and easel paintings—including the famous Vence Interiors series—the show makes clear how consistent Matisse’s exploration of color remained.

The cut-outs are the high point of his career: the outline, once drawn, is now shaped by the pure color of the painted paper, which becomes the true subject of this fundamentally decorative art.

The show also looks at Matisse’s work as a book illustrator, especially during World War II, when he refused to exhibit but found in printmaking a way around the censorship of the German occupation.

The installation smartly follows the chronology of these final years and captures how the master’s artistic research evolved, while his work stayed true to its core focus on ornament and color.

back to the list