The nuns who nursed Henri Matisse through a life-threatening stomach tumour in 1941 called him “le ressuscité,” the man who came back from the dead. According to a theartnewspaper.com report, following that brush with mortality, the artist pleaded with his doctors for three more years of life; he was granted 13. It is this extraordinary, final flourish of creativity that forms the heart of a landmark exhibition opening this week at the Grand Palais in Paris.
Featuring over 300 works, the show serves as a comprehensive correction to a historical oversight. Despite the global success of the Tate Modern and MoMA “Cut-Outs” exhibition a decade ago, Paris never hosted that specific celebration of Matisse’s late career. For curator Claudine Grammont, the return of these works to the French capital is a homecoming of national significance, marking a period when Matisse became a symbol of liberty in post-war France.
The exhibition spans the breadth of his output from 1941 until his death in 1954. On display are the vibrant maquettes for Jazz, the project that ignited his passion for cut paper, alongside the intricate “Themes and Variations” drawings. Visitors can also explore the profound spiritual legacy of the Chapelle du Rosaire in Vence, a project Matisse considered his crowning achievement, and his final, monumental interiors.
Grammont aims to dispel the myth that Matisse’s art was a product of effortless leisure. While the artist famously wished for his work to provide the “calming influence” of a good armchair, the reality was a physical struggle. Often bedridden or using a wheelchair, Matisse viewed his studio as a symbiotic environment where “every minute was a minute to create.”
The show concludes with his immersive paper collages, including the seven-metre-wide The Parakeet and the Mermaid. Created as a “garden” for an artist who could no longer walk in one, these works transformed his studio walls into a vibrant, uncontained world of light. By bringing these masterpieces together, the Grand Palais offers a rare glimpse into the “emergency” of Matisse’s late genius, a period defined by an urgent, joyful defiance of fading health.
•Featured image: Matisse’s La Chute d’Icare (1943)/Courtesy of Galerie de l’Institut
