Exhibition
Matisse
In the fall of 2024, the Fondation Beyeler in Riehen/Basel will present the first Henri Matisse retrospective in Switzerland and the German-speaking world in almost 20 years.
Event details
With around 80 major works from leading European and American museums and private collections, the exhibition focuses on the development and diversity of the artist's groundbreaking work. Taking Charles Baudelaire's 1857 poem Invitation to a Journey as a point of departure, Matisse's work indeed features numerous leitmotifs and key themes that are also central to Baudelaire's poem. Continuing the series of unprecedented exhibitions such as "Paul Gauguin" (2015), "Monet" (2017) and "The Young Picasso - Blue and Pink Periods" (2019), "Matisse" will be on view at the Fondation Beyeler from September 22, 2024 to January 26, 2025.
Henri Matisse (1869-1954) is among the most famous artists of modernism. His groundbreaking work had a major impact on his time and on many later generations of artists to this day. In liberating color from motif and simplifying forms, he redefined painting, bringing a previously unknown lightness to art. Matisse was also an innovator in sculpture, and in his late silhouettes he unfolded an unmistakable interplay of painting, drawing, and sculpture.
The exhibition takes its point of departure from Charles Baudelaire's poem Invitation to a Journey of 1857, to which Matisse repeatedly referred. The poetic leitmotifs of luxury, tranquility and pleasure ("luxe, calme et volupté") can be found in Matisse's work and summarize the quintessence of his art. Following Baudelaire's poem, the exhibition at the Fondation Beyeler is thus also conceived as a journey through Matisse's work and life, in which travel itself played an important role.
The exhibition spans all of the artist's creative phases. It begins with the early paintings created around 1900, continues with the revolutionary paintings of Fauvism and the experimental works of the 1910s, to the sensual paintings of the Nice period and the 1930s, and finally culminates in the legendary silhouettes of the late work of the 1940s and 1950s. Thanks to this wealth of important paintings, sculptures, and silhouettes, the development and richness of Matisse՚ unique œuvre become accessible.
Curated by Raphaël Bouvier, the exhibition brings together iconic works and also presents rarely shown paintings. They include masterpieces such as The Table Served (La Desserte), 1897; Luxury, Calm and Pleasure (Luxe, calme et volupté), 1904; The Open Window, Collioure (La fenêtre ouverte, Collioure), 1905; Luxury I (Le Luxe I), 1907; Large Reclining Nude (Grand nu couché [Nu rose]), 1935; The Dream (Le Rêve), 1935 and Blue Female Nude I (Nu bleu I), 1952.
Note: This text was translated by machine translation software and not by a human translator. It may contain translation errors.
Henri Matisse (1869-1954) is among the most famous artists of modernism. His groundbreaking work had a major impact on his time and on many later generations of artists to this day. In liberating color from motif and simplifying forms, he redefined painting, bringing a previously unknown lightness to art. Matisse was also an innovator in sculpture, and in his late silhouettes he unfolded an unmistakable interplay of painting, drawing, and sculpture.
The exhibition takes its point of departure from Charles Baudelaire's poem Invitation to a Journey of 1857, to which Matisse repeatedly referred. The poetic leitmotifs of luxury, tranquility and pleasure ("luxe, calme et volupté") can be found in Matisse's work and summarize the quintessence of his art. Following Baudelaire's poem, the exhibition at the Fondation Beyeler is thus also conceived as a journey through Matisse's work and life, in which travel itself played an important role.
The exhibition spans all of the artist's creative phases. It begins with the early paintings created around 1900, continues with the revolutionary paintings of Fauvism and the experimental works of the 1910s, to the sensual paintings of the Nice period and the 1930s, and finally culminates in the legendary silhouettes of the late work of the 1940s and 1950s. Thanks to this wealth of important paintings, sculptures, and silhouettes, the development and richness of Matisse՚ unique œuvre become accessible.
Curated by Raphaël Bouvier, the exhibition brings together iconic works and also presents rarely shown paintings. They include masterpieces such as The Table Served (La Desserte), 1897; Luxury, Calm and Pleasure (Luxe, calme et volupté), 1904; The Open Window, Collioure (La fenêtre ouverte, Collioure), 1905; Luxury I (Le Luxe I), 1907; Large Reclining Nude (Grand nu couché [Nu rose]), 1935; The Dream (Le Rêve), 1935 and Blue Female Nude I (Nu bleu I), 1952.
Note: This text was translated by machine translation software and not by a human translator. It may contain translation errors.