I'm not going to pretend that I love all periods from art history equally.  I'm not going to weigh the merits of several impressionists and vacillate or equivocate. My favorite artist is Henri Matisse. My favorite artwork is his cutout, “Les bêtes de la mer.” (“Beasts of the Sea”)

Henri Matisse (1869-1954) was a master colorist who used color to express emotions and create a sense of unity. His work is known for its use of bright colors, non-realistic palettes, and abstract depictions. Early in his career, he helped legitimize the school of Fauvism, which was, indeed, known for those same qualities. 

I had the privilege of seeing “Beasts of the Sea” at the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC a few years ago when it was in a special exhibit of Matisse cutouts. I was a long walk away from the museum, and had bone-on-bone arthritis in both knees at the time. A pedicab driver offered to take me for $5. I took him up on it as the exhibit closed in an hour. He got me there with lots of time to spare and I gratefully gave him the fare plus a huge tip. (Ok, I gave him a twenty.)

Here are the things that impressed me the most about this piece. 

1. It is very large- over 7 feet high. I had only ever seen it in books and assumed it might be half as tall as it is. 

2. It has tiny rips in it.  It is, after all, cut from paper, and it was created 75 years ago. It is cut paper mounted on canvas. Seeing the minor damage made what had been a vision become an immersive trip to the master’s studio.

3. The use of shape and color is incredible when viewed in person. It really is evocative of the swaying, sinuous plants and crawly beasts of the sea. Matisse, or more likely, his assistants, painted the paper using gouache in the colors he wanted to use. He was in poor health, and by the time this was created in 1950, he was no longer painting.  He was working on his famous cutouts. 

My own work is obviously not imitative of Matisse, but the collage method and the vibrant colors were influential. I used the artwork as the inspiration for a “pictures and poetry” assignment for my 5th graders. There were parameters: students used a similar foundation of squares forming towers, and they used only cut paper to create an abstracted scene. They also wrote poems to accompany their collages, which also had a formula based on a famous poem. It was one of the best classroom experiences I had in my 30 year career in education. 

I found over and over that my students came to admire and “acquire” art and artists to whom they were exposed and about whom they learned. You, too, may have learned something new. I hope you have come to see the beauty in this piece and in the legacy of Henry Matisse.

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