Henri Matisse | Olive Trees at Collioure | The Metropolitan Museum of Art

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Olive Trees at Collioure

Henri Matisse
(French, Le Cateau-Cambrésis 1869–1954 Nice)

Date: summer 1905 (?)

Medium: Oil on canvas

Dimensions: 17 1/2 x 21 3/4 in. (44.5 x 55.2 cm)

Classification: Paintings

Credit Line: Robert Lehman Collection, 1975

Accession Number: 1975.1.194

On view in Gallery 961

Description Object Information Related Objects Online Resources Video Audio

Painted in Collioure, a scenic town on the Mediterranean coast that drew many painters of the day, "Promenade among the Olive Trees" is one of the earliest and most important paintings of Matisse's Fauve period. Inspired by the works of his older contemporaries Paul Signac and Henri-Edmond Cross, who also lived in the south of France at this time, Matisse adopted the vibrant, unnatural colors favored by the Fauves. The artist found great inspiration in the sun-drenched landscape of Collioure, writing to a friend that it was full of "charming sites." This painting was acquired by Gertrude and Leo Stein shortly after it was completed.

Provenance

Purchased by Leo Stein, Paris, autumn 1906; Gertrude Stein and Leo Stein, Paris; acquired from an undocumented source, Paris, by Robert Lehman, New York, May/June 1949.