1907 -1952 · volume, simplification and scissors

From the Blue Nude, a memory of Biskra to the Large Reclining Nude then to the Blue Nude IV, Matisse took over the body as a problem of volume, color and space for almost half a century.

The nude offers Matisse a continuous field of experimentation. Blue nude, a souvenir of Biskra, painted in 1907 after a trip to Algeria, constructs a powerful figure with dark contours, angular volumes and a blue-green which scandalizes naturalistic expectations. Gray nude with a bracelet then tightens the relationship between pose, accessory and reduced range. For the Grand Nu couch from 1935, Matisse transformed the composition for a long time, using photography and moved papers in order to gradually simplify the pink body in a squared interior. In 1952, Nu bleu IV belonged to the series of cut-out gouache papers: blue pieces separated by white voids formed a pose seat whose joints seem both cut and unified. The scissors thus extend a research begun with a brush and sculpture. The "Nus d’Henri Matisse" selection notably compares Nu bleu (memory of Biskra) and Nu gris with a bracelet. His reading favors light.

The Cut Blue Nude is not an easy silhouette: it condenses decades of painting, modeling and corrections around the same question - how does a body fit in space?