Matisse, 1941 – 1954 | Grand Palais

 

A good way to understand an artist is to make a copy.

I visited the new Matisse exhibit, April 2 at Grand Palais.

Matisse, himself was a regular copyist at the Louvre. It’s a great way to walk in someone else’s shoes 👞 

But this exhibit is about Matisse’s last years, not his student days at the Beaux Art,

The palm🌴 fronds he painted over and over

Were from his garden at Vence.

The exhibit covers his final ebullient years of cutting ✂️ up gouache-painted papers,

Though at 70, his health was precarious from a recent surgery,

That left him confined to bed 

 

Or in a wheelchair, 

But he was not to be deterred.

Matisse’s works became larger scale, 

Even wall-sized, reflecting his ancestors, who were weavers.

An interesting side note* Matisse suffered from insomnia 💤 like the rest of us. Awake from 1:30 to 3:00 am, he got up wrote letters and sketched ✍️ instead of taking Magnesium Citrate etc.

He said, “This my second life.”

Matisse refused to leave France,

Though under the shadow of the occupation, with offers to come to the United States.

He refused to exhibit, but kept working away, assiduously right to his death at 84 in 1951.

In April, 1944 his wife and daughter, Marguerite (both in the Resistance) were arrested, fortunately to be released in August.

This astonishing Matisse exhibit is on until July 26, 2026.

Adrien Leeds dressed appropriately. You should too 👍

If you wish to do over your home 🏡 and yourself in a Matisse fashion, the gift shop offers every opportunity.