This work, number M119 in the Matisse archive has been authenticated by Marguerite Duthuit-Matisse, daughter of the artist, dated Paris, November 2, 1966, stating that the work was executed in Nice. It is not a page from a sketch book, rather a preparatory work for a series of fully realised paintings of a similar size, which date from May and June of the same year and are evidently based on this simple outline.
The work offered here appears to be Matisse’s first impression of a scene which he subsequently fleshed out in charcoal and then in ink and brush work and later worked up into numerous paintings entitled ‘La Lecture’ (reading) or which begin ‘Deux Fillettes’ (two girls) followed by the dominant colours to distinguish one from another - ‘Deux fillettes, fond corail, jardin bleu’ and ‘Deux fillettes, fond jaune et rouge’, both in the Barnes Foundation, Merion, Pennsylvania.
Henri Matisse (1869-1954)
Henri Matisse is commonly hailed, along with Pablo Picasso, as one of the most influential artists of the 20th century. He was instrumental in the development of Fauvism, Modernism and Post Impressionism. This work, however, was produced towards the end of his life but in the midst of what he termed his “second life”. He had been diagnosed with cancer in 1941 and the treatment left him wheelchair bound and with various other medical issues but lead to a period of intense creativity. By 1950, as painting became more difficult, he invented a new medium - his famous cut outs.
