To Mark the 150Th Anniversary of the Birth of Matisse and the Upcoming
To mark the 150th anniversary of the birth of Matisse and the upcoming exhibition of his work at the Pompidou Centre in Paris in 2020, this art documentary invites us to retrace the voyages Matisse made that influenced his art, especially his last trip to Polynesia in 1930, which took him to the threshold of contemporary art with the invention of his gouache-painted cut-outs. In 1930, at the age of 60, Matisse feels the call of the sea, the lure of elsewhere, one last time. He decides to embark on the longest possible journey: to the antipodes, to see Polynesia. The voyage to Tahiti takes several weeks, giving him time to look back on the distance he has travelled in his lifetime. He reflects on the many journeys that he, a man of the North searching for bright light and colours, has continually made throughout his life and career as a painter: to Corsica, Collioure and Nice, where he finally settled in 1917, but also to Algeria, Morocco and the United States. Each time, these trips have been a stepping stone to something else. His Corsican experience led him to Fauvism, his sojourn in Morocco to modern painting; Polynesia will permeate the last 25 years of his creative life and take him to the threshold of contemporary art. This lifelong artistic quest for other lights, colours and shapes has also, above all, been a search for himself that has driven him tirelessly and passionately to pursue the great journey of his life. Polynesia, the sea (1948) Note : The works presented in this dossier are all signed by Henri Matisse and their rights belong to Les Héritiers Matisse (© Succession H.
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