Still Life after Jan Davidsz. de Heem's "La Desserte" by Henri Matisse, painted in oil on canvas in 1915, stands as a critical and rigorous re-engagement with historical painting traditions. Created during a phase of formal experimentation, this work captures Matisse’s strategic response to the structural demands of early modernism, specifically during the period he spent working in Issy-les-Moulineaux, summer-fall 1915. This French painting is not a decorative exercise but a focused analysis of the composition underlying the original 17th-century Dutch Baroque painting, La Desserte, a revered masterwork now in the public domain.
While Jan Davidsz. de Heem’s composition is known for its meticulous naturalism and luxurious rendering of textures, Matisse drastically abstracted the image, reducing the complex still life elements to stark geometric volumes and flattened planes. The application of oil paint is deliberate and restrained, favoring clarity of line and form over the highly saturated color palettes of his earlier Fauve output. Matisse maintained the fundamental arrangement of the table and the vertical sweep of the drapery but stripped away the intricate detail and realistic illusionism. This transformation allows the viewer to focus on the essential architecture of the image, revealing Matisse's profound concern for structural balance during a time when many artists were questioning traditional representation.
This period marks a pivot point in the artist’s career, moving toward a classicism informed by analytical rigor. The decision to quote a Baroque source and subject it to a modernist translation demonstrates how Matisse used art history as fertile ground for developing his own spatial and formal solutions. The influence of his contemporaries and the ongoing challenges posed by World War I led him to produce canvases defined by gravity and intellectual depth. This pivotal painting resides in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), recognized internationally as an essential document of Matisse’s shift in style, and its influence continues through the widespread availability of high-quality prints.
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