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Thumbnail-size images of copyrighted artworks are displayed under fair use, in accordance with guidelines recommended by the Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for the Visual Arts, published by the College Art Association in February 2015.
Reclining Nude
Henri Matisse (French, 1869–1954)
1923–25
Object Place: France
Medium/Technique
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
Overall: 34.9 x 59.7 cm (13 3/4 x 23 1/2 in.)
Credit Line
Arthur K. Solomon Collection
Accession Number2004.444
CollectionsEurope
ClassificationsPaintings
In the 1920s Matisse lived in Nice, on the French Riviera, in an apartment filled with color and pattern-on wallpapers, rugs, and textiles. These rich backgrounds appear over and over again in his paintings of this period. But Matisse cautioned the viewer not to be confused by "the array of hangings and rugs … the sensuality of heavy, drowsy bodies … this splendid display of a siesta elevated to the maximum intensity of arabesque and color" for there is "a great tension brewing" in works such as this, a tension found in the interplay of line, color, and volume.
ProvenanceWith the Galerie Simon, Paris (stock no. 8443). Sacha Guitry (b. 1885 - d. 1957), Paris. Justin K. Thannhauser (b. 1892 - d. 1976), Paris and New York; by 1955, sold by Thannhauser to Arthur K. Solomon (b. 1912 - d. 2002), Cambridge, MA; 2004, gift of the Arthur K. Solomon collection to the MFA. (Accession Date: June 23, 2004)
Copyright© 2011 Succession H. Matisse, Paris / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.