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Artwork Details
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Title:Pansies
Artist:Henri Matisse (French, Le Cateau-Cambrésis 1869–1954 Nice)
Date:ca. 1903
Medium:Oil on paper mounted on paperboard
Dimensions:19 1/4 × 17 3/4 in. (48.9 × 45.1 cm)
Classification:Paintings
Credit Line:Bequest of Joan Whitney Payson, 1975
Object Number:1976.201.22
Inscription: Signed (lower left): H. Matisse
Sainsère collection, Paris (Mme Olivier Sainsère, possibly with her husband, until her d. 1947); presumably Sainsère heirs (until 1960; deposited with Durand-Ruel); [Durand-Ruel, Paris, 1960; sold on June 14, 1960 to Payson]; Mrs. Charles Shipman (Joan Whitney) Payson, New York and Manhasset (1960–d. 1975; her bequest to MMA)
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Recent Acquisitions: Twentieth Century Art Department," October 16, 1979–January 30, 1980, no catalogue.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Yves Saint Laurent: 25 Years of Design," December 14, 1983–September 2, 1984, unnum. checklist (installed in galleries of Costume Institute exhibition).
Museum of Art, Fort Lauderdale. "20th Century Flower Painting," February 1–March 31, 1991, unnum. brochure.
Roslyn Harbor, N. Y. Nassau County Museum of Art. "An Ode to Gardens and Flowers," May 10–August 9, 1992, unnumbered cat. (p. 39; as "Pansies on a Table," ca. 1918–19).
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Small Interiors," February 17–July 21, 1996, no catalogue.
Le Cateau-Cambrésis. Musée Matisse. "Matisse, His Art and His Textiles: The Fabric of Dreams," October 23, 2004–January 25, 2005, no. 16.
London. Royal Academy of Arts. "Matisse, His Art and His Textiles: The Fabric of Dreams," March 5–May 30, 2005, no. 16.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Matisse, His Art and His Textiles: The Fabric of Dreams," June 23–September 25, 2005, no. 16.
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. "The Masterpieces of French Painting from The Metropolitan Museum of Art: 1800–1920," February 4–May 6, 2007, no. 129.
Berlin. Neue Nationalgalerie. "Französische Meisterwerke des 19. Jahrhunderts aus dem Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York," June 1–October 7, 2007, unnumbered cat. (p. 253; as "Stiefmütterchen in einem Glas [Pensées dans un verre]," 1903 [?]).
Rome. Scuderie del Quirinale. "Matisse Arabesque," March 4–June 21, 2015, no. 2 (as "Coin de table [Violettes]").
Baltimore Museum of Art. "Matisse/Diebenkorn," October 23, 2016–January 29, 2017, no. 47.
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. "Matisse/Diebenkorn," March 11–May 29, 2017, no. 47.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Public Parks, Private Gardens: Paris to Provence," March 12–July 29, 2018, unnumbered cat. (p. 185).
Canberra. National Gallery of Australia. "Matisse & Picasso," December 13, 2019–April 13, 2020, unnumbered cat. (p. 47, as "Pansies [Les Pensées]").
Gary Tinterow et al. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Vol. 8, Modern Europe. New York, 1987, p. 104, colorpl. 80, call it "Pansies on a Table" and date it about 1918–19.
Pierre Schneider. Matisse. Rev. ed. (English ed., 1984). Paris, 2002, ill. p. 397, calls it "Coin de table" and dates it 1903.
Ann Dumas inMatisse: His Art and His Textiles: The Fabric of Dreams. Exh. cat., Musée Matisse, Le Cateau-Cambrésis. London, 2004, pp. 182–83, no. 16, ill. p. 95 (color), dates it 1918–19; notes that the "toile de Jouy" in the background of this picture was found in a junk shop by Matisse in 1903 and subsequently appeared in numerous paintings [see p. 81]; compares this picture to "Plaster Figure with Bouquet of Flowers" (1919; Museu de Arte de São Paolo) which also explores the "visual tensions between textile background and foreground props".
Ernst Beyeler and Christoph Vitali et al. Henri Matisse: Figure, couleur, espace. Exh. cat., Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen. Basel, 2006, p. 185, no. 56, ill. p. 96 (color), date it 1903, noting that certain dates were established in consultation with the Matisse heirs.
Sabine Rewald inThe Masterpieces of French Painting from The Metropolitan Museum of Art: 1800–1920. Exh. cat., Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. New York, 2007, pp. 172–73, 233, no. 129, ill. (color and bw, overall and detail), dates it 1918–19.
Sabine Rewald inMasterpieces of European Painting, 1800–1920, in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2007, pp. 198, 276, no. 183, ill. (color and bw), dates it 1918–19.
Impressionist & Modern Art Evening Sale. Sotheby's, London. June 25, 2008, p. 125, fig. 4 (color), under no. 37, dates it 1903.
Amelia Peck inInterwoven Globe: The Worldwide Textile Trade, 1500–1800. Ed. Amelia Peck. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2013, p. 4, fig. 1 (color).
Janet Bishop inMatisse/Diebenkorn. Ed. Janet Bishop and Katherine Rothkopf. Exh. cat., Baltimore Museum of Art. Baltimore, 2016, pp. 28, 173, colorpl. 47.
Jane Kinsman in Jane Kinsman with Simeran Maxwell. Matisse Picasso. Exh. cat., National Gallery of Australia. Canberra, 2019, pp. 46, 49, 181, ill. p. 47 (color).
Henri Matisse (French, Le Cateau-Cambrésis 1869–1954 Nice)
1919
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