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This abstract, horizontal painting is created with broad, visible strokes in areas of saffron orange, harvest yellow, carnation pink, violet, tomato red, cobalt and ultramarine blue, and shades of icy, seafoam, and pine green. Many of the colors are layered like strata in a canyon. A few objects are more recognizable, like a loosely painted pink kettle with royal-blue highlights at the back next to a bottle outlined with blue against the background. A spring-green teapot with a peach lid is to our right. The surface, presumably the table, is painted in tones of marigold and pumpkin orange. The left two-thirds of the background is painted with strokes of lavender-blue and mauve-pink streaked with cream white. The rightmost third is lapis blue. The artist signed the painting in the upper right corner, “Henri Matisse.”

Henri Matisse

Still Life, c. 1905

East Building, Ground Level — Gallery 103-E

Medium

oil on cardboard on wood

Dimensions

overall: 17 × 24.8 cm (6 11/16 × 9 3/4 in.)

framed: 27.94 × 35.56 × 6.35 cm (11 × 14 × 2 1/2 in.)

Credit Line

Ailsa Mellon Bruce Collection

Accession Number

1970.17.40

Artists / Makers

Henri Matisse (artist) French, 1869 - 1954

Image Use

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Inscription

upper right: Henri-Matisse

Provenance

Capt. Edward H. Molyneux [1891-1974], Paris, France, by 1952; sold 15 August 1955 to Ailsa Mellon Bruce [1901-1969], New York; bequest 1970 to NGA.

[1]Provenance according to NGA curatorial records and the Ailsa Mellon Bruce notebook now in NGA archives.

Associated Names

Bruce, Ailsa Mellon, Mrs.
Molyneux, Edward H., Captain

Exhibition History

1906: Neuvième Exposition, Société Artistique de l’Aube, Troyes, 1906, no. 235, as Etude

1952: French Paintings from the Molyneux Collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1952, unnumbered checklist.

1956: Hampton National Historic Site, Towson, Maryland, May - October 1956.

1961: French Paintings of the Nineteenth Century from the Collection of Mrs. Mellon Bruce, California Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco, 1961, no. 26, repro

1966: French Paintings from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon and Mrs. Mellon Bruce, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1966, no. 192, repro

1990: Vincent van Gogh and the Modern Movement 1890-1914, Museum Folkwang Essen, Essen, 1990, no. 97, repro.; Rijksmusem Vincent van Gogh, Amsterdam, 1990-1991, no. 120, repro.

1994: Henri Matisse 1904-1917, Musée national d'art moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, 1994, no. 28, repro.

1995: Fauves, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney; National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, 1995-1996, no. 75, repro.

1995: Matisse, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane; National Gallery of Australia, Canberra; National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, 1995, no. 32, repro.

1996: Fauvism: "Wild Beasts", Tel Aviv Museum of Art, 1996, no. 51, repro.

1999: Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art, Washington, Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art; Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, 1999, no. 74, repro.

2004: Fauve Painting from the Permanent Collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 2004-2005, no catalogue.

2014: Matisse and Friends: Selected Masterworks from the National Gallery of Art, Denver Art Museum, 2014-2015, no catalogue.

2015: Collection Conversations: The Chrysler and the National Gallery, Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, 2015, no catalogue.

Bibliography

1975: European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 228, repro.

1978: Small French Paintings from the Bequest of Ailsa Mellon Bruce. Exh. cat. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1978: 112, repro. (continuing exhibition beginning in 1978).

1985: European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 262, repro.