Open window in Collioure
| Open window in Collioure |
|---|
| Henri Matisse , 1905 |
| Oil on canvas |
| 55.3 x 46 cm |
|
National Gallery of Art , Washington, DC
Link to the picture |
Open window in Collioure (French: Fenêtre ouverte à Collioure ) is a painting by the French painter Henri Matisse . It was created in Collioure in 1905 during the artist's Fauvist period. It was painted in 55.3 × 46 cm with oil on canvas and is currently on view under the title Open Window, Collioure in the collection of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC . Previous owner since 1952 was entrepreneur, art collector and patron John Hay Whitney . In 1998 the work came into the museum's possession as a gift from the heirs.
Image description
The picture shows an open window in the southern French port town of Collioure with a view of a wide sea with ships moored in the port. In the foreground you can see a pink-red window with six small partial window panes. These discs reflect the light in different colors. There are three flower pots with flowering plants in different colors on the windowsill. The sea shown in the background is shown in pink-red tones, while gray-blue tones dominate on the horizon. In the center of the picture are five ships, each with a blue exterior and a wooden red interior with a red mast.
Image analysis
The viewer's gaze is directed through the window in the direction of the vanishing point, which is not precisely defined, but is located near the horizon marked by a purple-blue stripe. The two window sashes are opened inwards, which is also one of the reasons for the three-dimensional appearance of the work and better characterizes the central perspective. The picture has an impasto (particularly easy to recognize in the sky of the painting), in some places also spotted paint (especially on the leaves) and is dominated by the colors red and pink. Significant contrasts are - as shown in the picture - the frequently occurring complementary contrasts , e.g. B. on the flower pots, in the flower pots or on the sailing boats. The walls can be seen as a contrast between light and dark. The sky gives a warm-cold contrast with the window area. Shadows can also be seen behind a boat - except on the wall to the left of the window. Otherwise there are no shadows that indicate the position of the sun or the light in the room.
history
→ Birth of Fauvism in Collioure in 1905
Henri Matisse went on vacation to Collioure in 1905 with his colleague André Derain and was so impressed by the colors of the landscape that he painted several pictures. The result of his work during this so-called Fauvist phase represented a solution in the form of a two-dimensional color scheme, which opposes the "flowing" of impressionistic images. Among other things, the paintings by Matisse, Open Window in Collioure and Woman with Hat , both from 1905, at the Paris exhibition of the same year in Room VII of the Salon d'Automne aroused outrage from visitors and art critics and thus led to the term Fauvism ( French fauves = wild animals).
The Chemin du Fauvisme in Collioure is a reminder of the origin of Fauvism there: reproductions of the paintings made there are attached in 19 places.
Individual evidence
- ^ Open Window in Collioure , nga.gov, accessed February 9, 2015
- ^ Images of both paintings in the journal L'Illustration , November 4, 1905
- ↑ Lawrence Gowing: Matisse , Lichtenberg, Munich 1997, ISBN 3-7852-8406-3 , p. 50 ff
- ^ Collioure website
