TATE INTRODUCTIONS: Matisse

Matisse's late collage, The Snail, is one of the most striking exhibits at Tate Modern, where its colourful roulade of shapes encapsulates the snail's slow movement. Other works from Matisse's late period include the Blue Nudes, whose simplified shapes are perfectly designed to express motion and vibrant life. This short introduction from the Tate Gallery starts with Matisse's early work and development from being a close follower of Cezanne to his position as a leading figure of early 20th century modernism. He was a printmaker and sculptor, but is best known as a painter. The dark palette of Matisse's early still lifes show the dominant influence of Cezanne, but in The Dinner Table of 1898 a figure breaks the stillness and looks forward to later work. The brash colour of the Fauves is seen in the iconic Woman with a Hat from 1905 and bright interiors such as The Pink Studio and Harmony in Red. At the same time as these groundbreaking works he produced the simplified dancing figures of Dance II, which anticipate the late collages in style. The restrained elegance of the 1913 Portrait of Madame Matisse demonstrates a change in palette from the earlier reds and bright blues to sombre shades of greenish grey, which nevertheless add to his stature as one of the 20th century's great colourists. Cubism is an intermittent influence, fired by his friendship with Picasso, and the 1935 canvas Large Reclining Nude, with huge limbs lying on a blue checked cloth, gestures towards Picasso's style, but Matisse could never quite be defined within any movement. 80pp, softback, colour reproductions.