Henri Matisse (French, 1869–1954)
Still Life: Bouquet and Compotier (Nature morte: bouquet et compotier), 1924
Oil on canvas
The Eugene and Margaret McDermott Art Fund, Inc., in honor of Dr. Bryan Williams, 2002.19.McD
© 2004 Succession H. Matisse, Paris/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

This painting is part of a group of approximately fifteen important still-life paintings that Matisse produced in Nice in 1924–25. Matisse masterfully plays with the familiar studio props in his third floor apartment at 1 place Charles Félix. The painted standing screen, the tablecloth, and the compotier all reappear in other paintings.

The painting embodies all of the essentials of Matisse’s style. We see his ambitious play with decoration, creating elisions between painted patterns and three-dimensional objects. The undulating black garland of the painted screen seems to merge with a passage of disembodied flowers, somehow closer to abstract design than real flowers. This is a crucial passage in the composition, a point of tension and concentration, where Matisse “breaks” the gilt wooden frame of the screen.

The central part of the bouquet, however, is fully developed, with the artist’s deft touch conjuring unmistakable daisies, roses, and anemones. Examination of each flower reveals the authority with which he constructs his bouquet. Daubs of pale blue, peach, mauve, yellow, and deep red define the flowers, while freely applied brush-loads of vibrant green define the leaves.

Spatial ambiguity is a major theme in the painting through the manipulation of the standing screen in the background, its relationship to the section of wall visible at right, and the varied treatment of the table surface. It is, for instance, extraordinarily difficult to situate the bold black garland at left in space. The grand bouquet itself seems to float between planes and levels of reality. The wall at right, decorated with a print, also hovers ambiguously in space. The more densely painted section of the table directly beneath the still-life objects seems to designate its surface, while the passages in the foreground and at right exist in spatially indeterminate zones.

Matisse masterfully orchestrates a subtle palette of pink, mauve, silvery-gray, and ochre, all in bold contrast to the deep passages of saturated black in the painted garland decoration, in the vase or pot, and in the shadows that penetrate the bouquet.

The artist includes an unabashed homage to Paul Cézanne through the elegant compotier with five mandarins, the small twig of leaves providing a brilliant accent. The rim and foot of the compotier are furthermore delicately highlighted with streaks of gold or yellow. The painting is ebullient and bold. The “break” of the gilt wooden frame of the paneled screen is one expression of the artist’s profound self-confidence. The range of colors that constitute the play of shadows on the tablecloth is another compelling passage. The single red apple at right, outlined firmly in black, is an authoritative visual anchor for the entire right-hand portion of the painting.

In short, the painting is a brilliant work by one of the great masters of modern art. It is quintessential Matisse, balancing a freedom of paint application and spontaneity of composition with a sense of deliberateness and control.