Nature morte aux oranges (II) (Still Life with Oranges [II])

Henri Matisse

c. 1899

On View in Gertrude Bernoudy Gallery, Room 3

Seen as one of the great modern artists along with Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse painted Nature morte aux oranges (II) during an early experimental stage in his career. With a relatively simple color scheme and quick, visible brushwork, Matisse's vibrant image shows a bowl of oranges, the outline of a coffee cup, and a translucent green pitcher on a sketchy blue tabletop. Bare canvas is particularly visible beneath the table; whether Matisse considered the painting finished or not is unknown. The vivid orange and yellow hues on the back wall, echoing the colors of the fruit, give the effect of an intensely sunlit room, but the curtain and outdoor view through the window in the upper right are vague, almost abstract forms. Matisse's handling anticipates his later emphasis on flat, decorative colors and forms while also pointing toward modernist experimentations with its unfinished quality, loose brushwork, and flattened, abstracted imagery. The painting seems to be a study in the use of tertiary and complementary colors to create a sense of form and space rather than using imitative colors or an illusionistic perspective to mimetically represent an actual scene. The exceptionally energetic colors also anticipate Matisse's Fauvist period, in which unnatural colors were used to add a level of emotional intensity to his paintings. [Permanent collection label, 2011. Revised 2023]

Artist Henri Matisse (French, 1869–1954)
Title Nature morte aux oranges (II) (Still Life with Oranges [II])
Date c. 1899
Medium Oil on canvas
Dimensions unframed | 18 1/16 x 21 7/8 in.
Credit line Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Sydney M. Shoenberg, Jr., 1962
Object number WU 4044

Technique oil painting
Work type painting
Theme Food

Currently on View Gertrude Bernoudy Gallery, Room 3

Elusive Form: Color in Space
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 01/18/2023 - 04/09/2023

The Double: Identity and Difference in Art since 1900
National Gallery of Art (Washington, DC), 07/10/2022 - 10/30/2022

From Picasso to Fontana: Collecting Modern and Postwar Art in the Eisendrath Years, 1960–1968
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 01/23/2015 - 04/19/2015

Expressionism in Germany and France: From Van Gogh to Kandinsky
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 06/08/2014 - 09/14/2014
Van Gogh to Kandinsky: Impressionism to Expressionism, 1900–1914 (MBAM), Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, 10/06/2014 - 01/25/2015

Matisse, Paires et séries
Musée National d’Art Moderne, Centre Pompidou, 03/07/2012 - 06/18/2012
Matisse—Doubles and Variations, Statens museum for kunst (Copenhagen, Denmark), 07/14/2012 - 10/28/2012
Matisse: In Search of True Painting, The Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, New York), 12/03/2012 - 03/17/2013

Picasso to Pollock: H.W. Janson and the Legacy of Modern Art at Washington University in St. Louis
Marion Koogler McNay Art Museum (San Antonio, Texas), 08/17/2004 - 10/24/2004

H. W. Janson and the Legacy of Modern Art at Washington University in St. Louis
Salander-O’Reilly Galleries (New York, New York), 03/12/2002 - 04/06/2002
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 08/30/2002 - 12/08/2002

Early Modern European and American Art
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 09/08/1998 - 10/12/1998

Matisse
National Gallery of Australia (Canberra, Australia), 05/27/1995 - 07/09/1995
National Gallery of Victoria (Melbourne, Australia), 07/19/1995 - 09/03/1995
Queensland Art Gallery (Queensland, Australia), 03/29/1995 - 05/16/1995

A Gallery of Modern Art
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 08/09/1994 - 10/16/1994

Henri Matisse: A Retrospective
Museum of Modern Art, New York, 09/16/1992 - 01/19/1993

Capsule of Modern Art
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 01/09/1983 - 03/06/1983

Cubists, Surrealists, and Expressionists
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 05/15/1983 - 09/04/1983

The Centennial Exhibition
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 05/15/1981 - 10/11/1981

Cubist, Expressionist, and Surrealist Paintings and Sculptures
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 09/20/1980 - 11/02/1980

Matisse 1869–1954: A Retrospective Exhibition
Tate Britain (London, England), 07/04/1968 - 09/08/1968

Washington University Collection of Modern Paintings and Sculpture from Daumier to Pollock
Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 04/06/1966 - 05/08/1966

St. Louis Collects
Saint Louis Art Museum, 04/07/1952 - 05/05/1952

H. W. Janson and the Legacy of Modern Art 2002

1962
Mr. and Mrs. Sydney M. Shoenberg, Jr., St. Louis

Inscription [UL:] Henri Matisse

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