“Odalisque couchee aux magnolias (1923)” which was painted by French master Henri Matisse has sold for nearly $80.8 million (about NT$240 million) at the private collection evening sale at Christie’s New York on May 8th, a record for a work by the artist at auction.
The Estate of David Rockefeller sold at Christie’s the personal collection of Peggy and David Rockefeller, which is estimated to include over 2,000 individual item, including Pablo Picasso’s and Claude Monet’s works. That result achieves $832 million highest total for a private collection, exceeding previous record of $484 million from Yves Saint Laurent Collection in 2009.
When it comes to Henri Matisse, everyone knows he was the leader of Fauvism. Picasso and he are known as the most influential artists of the 20th century. However, it was an accident that Matisse became an artist. Born in a merchant family, Matisse has nothing related to arts until he contracted appendicitis and spend months at home recovering. His mother brought him a painting box, and that changed his ordinary life.
Before Matisse painted, he was only a normal court administrator who never learnt to paint in the past. So he started from still lifes and landscapes in a traditional style. Even he had a talent for creating, the way he painted didn't bring him joy. In 1905, he traveled to South France where was always agreeable and warm, he found his way to create.
The blue sea and bright sunshine embraced the Mediterranean coast of France. Matisse was touched by what he saw there. Then he developed a new painting technique which used thick paint and bright colors on the canvas. He did not need to consider what it was exactly looked like. In the same year, he participated in the Salon d'Automne and exhibited his works, “The Woman with a Hat” and “Open Window”. The art critic Louis Vauxcelles described their show of work with the phrase “Donatello among the wild beasts”. Since then, Fauvism has become a new movement leading by Matisse.
However, solely defining Matisse with Fauvism is narrow in one’s views. As an avant-garde artist, Matisse always challenged himself by new styles, such as simplified forms, the human figure in interior spaces, sculptures, and the paper cut-outs during late years.
In addition to using bright colors, “nakedness” carries out the artist career of Matisse. The characters in his paintings displayed their bodies in joyful and natural vibes, without depicting details. Matisse used simple compositions and strong contrasting colors to show the enthusiasm of characters. However, his paintings were criticized by collectors and critics, for his works were different from the classical paintings. They mocked the tones of the flesh, and even thought that his works violated everything in art history. But some of the collectors knew Matisse would set a new trend in art history, they purchased many works from him.
Apart from Fauvism members such as André Derain, Raoul Dufy, Maurice de Vlaminck and collector Stein, Matisse’s intimate friends were easygoing artist like Albert Marquet and Georges Braque.
The friendship between Matisse and Picasso was the amazing story in art world. When Matisse met Picasso around 1906, Matisse was already a little bit famous artist among well-bred circles in France. Due to the gap of age, they didn't become best friends in the first time, and even were often compared. One day, Picasso saw Matisse holding an African artefact which motivated Picasso to create “Les Demoiselles d'Avignon”. That was the beginning of Cubism. Matisse’s great achievement in paintings made Picasso said, Matisse is the true artist. The two became lifelong friends as well as rivals and are often compared.
Now the works of Matisse are mainly collected by Tate Modern, the Guggenheim Museum, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, Hermitage Museum in Russia, and etc.
Figure 1: Nu bleu IV, 1952. © Succession Henri Matisse/DACS 2018
Figure 2 top left: Bathers by a River, 1909-1916. Art Institute of Chicago Collection © Succession Henri Matisse/DACS 2018
Figure 2 right left: Pink Nude, 1935. Baltimore Museum of Art Collection © Succession Henri Matisse/DACS 2018
Figure 2 top right: Matisse at home in Nice, 1948. Courtesy of Time & Life/Getty
Figure 2 top right: The Snail, 1953. Tate Modern Collection © Succession Henri Matisse/DACS 2018
