Henri Matisse Cut-Out’s Exhibit-Inspiration in Color

I had the chance to view the highly popular Matisse Cut-Out’s art exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art. With shows of this magnitude, I tend to move around a lot to avoid large groups of people and their conversations. Or do not take the time to read the information provided by the museum to give some background or material information on a certain section or piece.This art exhibit grabbed my attention as soon as I walked through the doors.

Small to mid size pieces of a wide, intense color variety showcased Henri Matisse’s love of color, shape and storytelling. Subject matters had multiple pieces to evolve that idea or scene Matisse was creating from. Whether if it was the Moroccan fabric, view from his window or seashells, these pieces laid the groundwork for the large ones that were created. Larger pieces of women dancing, a swimming pool’s light dancing in the waves, church iconography or the bottom of the sea, these majestic works or art treated your eyes to vision of multiple colors and shapes, Your intellect and physical senses were also touched by their sheer size and composition of placed cut-outs on burlap or white paper.

Videos shown gave you a small glimpse of Matisse working with the cut-out pieces, directing his assistant to place them just so. The viewer also gets a behind the scenes experience from another video that shows the laborious restoration of “The Swimming Pool” piece.

You also got to see the different shades of color painted on each piece of paper before they were cut-out, in addition to the variety of stain glass colors used in the church cut-out pieces Matisse created. Composition, abstraction, color & it’s flavorful depth and strong storytelling are just a few of the aspects of this art exhibit that made it so successful for me. I would see this show and maybe see it again before it closes in February. Fantastic display of imagination and delicious color.