Matisse's last masterpieces celebrated at Paris exhibition

An expansive retrospective of Henri Matisse’s late work opened at the Grand Palais on Tuesday (March 24), bringing together more than 300 pieces that reveal the artist’s explosive turn toward colour, collage and a stripped‑down art form during the final years of his life.

The exhibition, entitled "Matisse 1941-1954" highlights the French artist's pioneering cut‑outs, stained‑glass studies, drawings and illustrated books, created over a period when he reinvented his artistic language with bold blocks of colour and fluid, paper‑cut silhouettes. 

Matisse, who died at 84 years old, fell ill with colon cancer in his later years, but kept creating even when he was bedridden.

With reduced mobility, he turned to cut‑paper techniques, a medium that allowed him to keep creating: “It allowed him to imagine, to move about in his mind," said curator Claudine Grammont.

Visitors to the exhibit will see signature collages such as Acanthus (1953), The Sheaf (1953), Blue Nude (1952) and The Snail (1953), alongside luminous stained‑glass designs including Christmas Eve (1952) and Study for the Lower Right Panel of the Tree of Life (1949).

From straightforward painting, his works gravitated towards a final period marked by a search for “ever greater simplicity,” Grammont said.

His colours became “as expressive as possible” as he worked toward simpler visual forms, Grammont added.

The exhibition is organised by the Centre Pompidou and presented at the Grand Palais, drawing largely from the museum’s collection as well as international loans.

The Centre Pompidou says the show aims to recreate the atmosphere of Matisse’s evolving studio, where he surrounded himself with vivid cut‑outs and evolving compositions — a world he described as a kind of “garden.” 

"Matisse 1941–1954" runs until July 26.

Production: Noemie Olive, Lauren Bacquie/Reuters