03 May 2021 | Culture
The Matisse Museum in Nice
Are you spending your next vacation on the Côte d'Azur? Come and visit the Matisse museum in Nice.
Henri Matisse
Henri Matisse is a French painter, designer and sculptor. He lived part of his life and died in Nice.
At the start of the 20th century, Matisse was one of the emblematic representatives of French Fauvism. At that time, he spent his summers in the south of France, notably in Collioure.
Fauvism shakes up the tyranny of divisionism. You cannot live in a household that is too well done, a household of provincial aunts. So we go into the bush to find simpler means that do not stifle the mind. There is also at this time, the influence of Gauguin and Van Gogh. Here are the ideas of the time: construction by colored surfaces, search for intensity in color. The light is not suppressed, but it is expressed by an agreement of the intensely colored surfaces.
He will travel to several countries including Polynesia and then returned to France, settling in Nice.
The Blue Nudes series
When I paint in green, it does not mean grass: when I paint in blue, it does not mean the sky
Matisse produced a series of collages of Nudes in 1952. He made them from large sheets covered with gouache which he then cut, assemble or dissociate them.
In this series, two things catch our attention.
Blue, which is often associated with a cold tone, takes on a new tone here. By evoking feminine sensuality, blue, here an ode to pleasure, becomes warm.
Matisse, who generally likes rather busy backgrounds, takes the side of emptiness here. Emptiness which leaves a luminous space between the joints and accentuates all the fullness of the absolute forms of the nude.
Le musée
The Matisse Museum opened its doors in 1963. It is a beautiful bourgeois residence with warm colours typical of the region.
Address: 164, avenue des Arènes de Cimiez, 06000 Nice.
