Lot Essay
The present painting was executed in 1922, in the middle of an enormously fertile period in Monet's career.
During the years 1920-25 Matisse worked with unabated energy, producing scores of paintings and hundreds of drawings. The paintings are for the most part of a conveniently modest size, pleasant in subject matter and more conventionally realized than any body of work he had produced since 1904, without at the same time sacrificing decorative charm.... There are many paintings in which daring combinations of patterns and (less daring) combinations of colors are achieved with a virtuosity beyond the powers of any living artist. For many this period is the most attractive and satisfactory in Matisse's entire career. (A. Barr, Matisse: His Art and His Public, New York, 1951, pp. 208-209)
During the years 1920-25 Matisse worked with unabated energy, producing scores of paintings and hundreds of drawings. The paintings are for the most part of a conveniently modest size, pleasant in subject matter and more conventionally realized than any body of work he had produced since 1904, without at the same time sacrificing decorative charm.... There are many paintings in which daring combinations of patterns and (less daring) combinations of colors are achieved with a virtuosity beyond the powers of any living artist. For many this period is the most attractive and satisfactory in Matisse's entire career. (A. Barr, Matisse: His Art and His Public, New York, 1951, pp. 208-209)