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Lot Essay
An object can play a different role in ten different pictures. The object is not taken alone, it evokes an ensemble of elements. Henri Matisse
Henri Matisse’s Nature morte, fougères et grenades is a bold and striking work on paper which presents both the medium and subject matter that defined the artist’s work in the 1940s. Matisse moved to the villa Le Rêve in Vence, in the south of France, in 1943, ushering in a period of intense creativity in his art. In his new studio there, he staged a series of modern, stylized still-life arrangements, including the present work. With an assured and deft arrangement of strokes of brush and India ink, the artist conveyed the spiky fronds of a plant, a porcelain vase filled with flowers, and a loose pile of bulbous pomegranates on a scalloped plate. These elements have all been simply outlined, with no interior shading to imply volume; they appear flat against the table, tilted upwards to offer its contents to the viewer.
While the still life had long occupied a central position in Matisse’s oeuvre, he had returned to the genre with gusto in the 1940s during a period of rejuvenation and renewal in his work. His 1947 oil painting, Nature morte aux grenades (Musée Matisse, Nice), closely resembles the subject and vertical format of the present work. Depicting a table set with pomegranates and lemons on a plate, the composition features a green palm tree that appears to burst through the open window in the upper left corner. This work suggests different possible interpretations of the plant depicted in Nature morte, fougères et grenades: it may be a potted fern in Matisse’s studio or a tall, slender palm tree outside, framed by a horizontal windowsill. Matisse seems to deliberately obscure the reading of the plant by placing a vase directly in front of the fronds, acting as a surrogate porcelain stem or trunk. The surface of the vase itself is decorated with a round ornament design, echoing the shape of the fruits on the table that surround it.
Nature morte, fougères et grenades, like the 1947 Musée Matisse painting, depicts a cluster of pomegranates: bulbous, ruby-red fruits that grow in the warm climate of the Mediterranean—including near Matisse’s new home. Pomegranates appear throughout the history of European still-life painting, from the opulent florals of the seventeenth-century Flemish artist Jan van Huysum to the humble arrangements of the Post-Impressionist Paul Cezanne. The sweet, tart pomegranate had also long served as a symbol of fertility, due to the multiplicity of juicy seeds inside. In the present work, Matisse refers to the pomegranate’s sensual reputation; one of the fruits has been split open to reveal its succulent interior, summarized with a few touches of the brush.
In this late stage of his career, Matisse was attracted to the viscous liquid texture and rich sheen of India ink, which formed a stark contrast to the raw weave of white paper. Matisse used a brush to apply the deep black liquid to paper in confident curved lines, swoops and squiggles—a technique that combined the ease and speed of drawing with the gestural satisfaction of painting. In the words of art historian Pierre Schneider, “These large dazzling black and white sheets of paper are Matisse’s last paintings” (Matisse, New York, 1984, p. 654).
Nature morte, fougères et grenades was included in two monographic exhibitions during Matisse’s lifetime, including a retrospective of the artist’s recent work at the Musée National d’Art Moderne in Paris in 1949, which the artist enlisted his son, the gallerist Pierre, to coordinate and curate.
Henri Matisse’s Nature morte, fougères et grenades is a bold and striking work on paper which presents both the medium and subject matter that defined the artist’s work in the 1940s. Matisse moved to the villa Le Rêve in Vence, in the south of France, in 1943, ushering in a period of intense creativity in his art. In his new studio there, he staged a series of modern, stylized still-life arrangements, including the present work. With an assured and deft arrangement of strokes of brush and India ink, the artist conveyed the spiky fronds of a plant, a porcelain vase filled with flowers, and a loose pile of bulbous pomegranates on a scalloped plate. These elements have all been simply outlined, with no interior shading to imply volume; they appear flat against the table, tilted upwards to offer its contents to the viewer.
While the still life had long occupied a central position in Matisse’s oeuvre, he had returned to the genre with gusto in the 1940s during a period of rejuvenation and renewal in his work. His 1947 oil painting, Nature morte aux grenades (Musée Matisse, Nice), closely resembles the subject and vertical format of the present work. Depicting a table set with pomegranates and lemons on a plate, the composition features a green palm tree that appears to burst through the open window in the upper left corner. This work suggests different possible interpretations of the plant depicted in Nature morte, fougères et grenades: it may be a potted fern in Matisse’s studio or a tall, slender palm tree outside, framed by a horizontal windowsill. Matisse seems to deliberately obscure the reading of the plant by placing a vase directly in front of the fronds, acting as a surrogate porcelain stem or trunk. The surface of the vase itself is decorated with a round ornament design, echoing the shape of the fruits on the table that surround it.
Nature morte, fougères et grenades, like the 1947 Musée Matisse painting, depicts a cluster of pomegranates: bulbous, ruby-red fruits that grow in the warm climate of the Mediterranean—including near Matisse’s new home. Pomegranates appear throughout the history of European still-life painting, from the opulent florals of the seventeenth-century Flemish artist Jan van Huysum to the humble arrangements of the Post-Impressionist Paul Cezanne. The sweet, tart pomegranate had also long served as a symbol of fertility, due to the multiplicity of juicy seeds inside. In the present work, Matisse refers to the pomegranate’s sensual reputation; one of the fruits has been split open to reveal its succulent interior, summarized with a few touches of the brush.
In this late stage of his career, Matisse was attracted to the viscous liquid texture and rich sheen of India ink, which formed a stark contrast to the raw weave of white paper. Matisse used a brush to apply the deep black liquid to paper in confident curved lines, swoops and squiggles—a technique that combined the ease and speed of drawing with the gestural satisfaction of painting. In the words of art historian Pierre Schneider, “These large dazzling black and white sheets of paper are Matisse’s last paintings” (Matisse, New York, 1984, p. 654).
Nature morte, fougères et grenades was included in two monographic exhibitions during Matisse’s lifetime, including a retrospective of the artist’s recent work at the Musée National d’Art Moderne in Paris in 1949, which the artist enlisted his son, the gallerist Pierre, to coordinate and curate.