Matisse “the anxious, the madly anxious” – as one of his pointillist friends describes him – dominates the art of the first half of the XNUMXth century and is considered one of the most fascinating artistic consciences of the XNUMXth century. Always at the center of debates, throughout his career he was leader of the Fauves, critical observer of Cubism, disciple of Signac, Renoir and Bonnard, rival of Picasso, master of the academy and finally forerunner of an art that anticipates expressionism abstract new york.
With 50 works by Matisse and 47 by contemporary artists such as Picasso, Renoir, Bonnard, Modigliani, Miró, Derain, Braque, Marquet, Léger - all from the Center Pompidou - the exhibition "Matisse and his time" aims to show the works of Matisse through the exact context of his friendships and artistic exchanges with other painters. Thus, by means of visual comparisons with works by his contemporary artists, it will be possible to grasp not only the subtle reciprocal influences or the common sources of inspiration, but also a sort of "spirit of the time", which unites Matisse and the other artists and which it involves hitherto little-studied moments, such as the modernism of the forties and fifties. Works by Matisse such as Icarus (from the Jazz series of 1947), Big red interior (1948), Girl dressed in white on a red background (1946) are compared with Picasso's paintings, such as Nude with Turkish cap (1955), by Braque, as Toilet in front of the window (1942), by Léger, as Leisure - Homage to Louis David (1948-1949)
Ten sections on display illustrate, according to a chronological itinerary interspersed with thematic insights, Matisse's figures of the odalisques - as in Odalisque with red trousers from 1921 -; the depiction of the atelier, a recurring subject in Matisse's work but which, in the dark years of the Second World War, gave rise to astonishing paintings signed by Braque (L'Atelier IX, 1952-56) and Picasso (The studio, 1955 ); the work and path of Matisse from his beginnings with Gustave Moreau (1897-99) until his death in the XNUMXs and the last painted and cut papers.
