Matisse

Sculpting in paper

Picasso and Matisse were active to the end of their lives, but while Picasso was preoccupied with his relationships and love affairs, Matisse moved into a period of selfless invention. In this last phase, too weak to stand at an easel, he created his papercuts, carving in coloured paper, scissoring out shapes, and collaging them into sometimes vast pictures. These works, daringly brilliant, are the nearest he ever came to abstraction. Beasts of the Sea (1950; 295.5 x 154 cm (9 ft 8 in x 5 ft 1/2 in)) gives a wonderful underwater feeling of fish, sea cucumbers, sea horses, and water-weeds, the liquid liberty of the submarine world where most of us can never go. Its geometric rightness and chromatic radiance sum up the two great gifts of this artist and it is easy to see why he is the greatest colourist of the 20th century. He understood how elements worked together, how colours and shapes could come to life most startlingly when set in context: everything of Matisse's works together superbly.

The Clown, from Jazz, 1947	Blue Nude	The Horse, the Rider, and the Clown

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