The Matisse Museum (''Musée Départemental Henri Matisse'') is a museum in

Le Cateau-Cambrésis Le Cateau-Cambrésis (, before 1977: ''Le Cateau'') is a Communes of France, commune in the Nord (French department), Nord Departments of France, department in northern France. The term Cambrésis indicates that it lies in the county of that name ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

that primarily displays paintings by

Henri Matisse Henri Émile Benoît Matisse (; 31 December 1869 – 3 November 1954) was a French visual arts, visual artist, known for both his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a drawing, draughtsman, printmaking, printmaker, ...

. The museum was established by Matisse himself on 8 November 1952; he also defined the way his works should be arranged. At that time the museum was located in the wedding room of the Le Cateau City Hall. In 1956, after the death of Matisse, the collection of the museum was enlarged by the gift of 65 paintings by

Auguste Herbin Auguste Herbin (29 April 1882 – 31 January 1960) was a French Painting, painter of modern art. He is best known for his Cubism, Cubist and abstract art, abstract paintings consisting of colorful Geometry, geometric figures. He co-founded the gr ...

. The Museum was moved to the « Fénelon Palace » (''Palais Fénelon''), also in Le Cateau, in 1982, and its ownership was transferred by the city to the Nord department in 1992; after three years of construction and refurbishment, it reopened on 8 November 2002. The Museum now has the third largest collection of Matisse works in France. With seventeen exhibition rooms, and over a surface of about , the Museum displays more than 170 Matisse works, as well as 65 paintings by

, given by the artist, paintings by

Geneviève Claisse Geneviève Claisse (; 17 July 1935 – 30 April 2018) was a French geometrical abstract painter. A relative to Auguste Herbin, her painting vocation was born through reading the magazine ''Art d'aujourd'hui'', tribune of geometrical abstraction ...

, relative and student of Herbin, elements of the

Tériade Tériade is the pen name of Stratis (or Efstratios) Eleftheriades (; 2 May 1897 – 23 October 1983), a Greek writer and native of Mytilene who went to Paris in 1915 at the age of eighteen to study law. He instead became an art critic, patron, an ...

collection of

artists' books Artists' books (or book arts or book objects) are works of art that engage with and transform the form of a book. Some are mass-produced with multiple editions, some are published in small editions, while others are produced as one-of-a-kind o ...

and 30 photographs from the

Henri Cartier-Bresson Henri Cartier-Bresson (; 22 August 1908 – 3 August 2004) was a French artist and Humanist photography, humanist photographer considered a master of candid photography, and an early user of 135 film, 35mm film. He pioneered the genre of street ...

collection. The Museum also regularly hosts temporary exhibits.

History of the Fénelon Palace

The Fénelon Palace which houses most of the museum was used as a refuge by the bishops of

Cambrai Cambrai (, ; ; ), formerly Cambray and historically in English Camerick or Camericke, is a city in the Nord department and in the Hauts-de-France region of France on the Scheldt river, which is known locally as the Escaut river. A sub-pref ...

. It was rebuilt during the 18th century by Théodore Brongniart who also created a monumental porch of neoclassic style. The Catesians have given it this name due to

François Fénelon François de Salignac de la Mothe-Fénelon, PSS (), more commonly known as François Fénelon (6 August 1651 – 7 January 1715), was a French Catholic archbishop, theologian, poet and writer. Today, he is remembered mostly as the author of ' ...

, who was Archbishop of Cambrai. The classical French garden of the Palace was designed by Le Nôtre. During the 19th century, the building was transformed into a cotton mill. After that, from 1878, it was bought by the city and used as a school for the children of Le Cateau and later converted to museum in 1982.

List of the works

* ''Unité'' (Unity) by

, acrylic on canvas (1969) * ''Bois sculpté'' (Sculpted wood) by

, painted wood sculpture (1921) * ''Lénine-Staline'' (Lenin - Stalin) by

, oil on canvas (1948) * ''Réalité spirituelle'' (Spiritual reality) by

, oil on canvas (1938) * ''Union'' (Union) by

, oil on canvas (1959) * ''Coquelicots et Iris II'' (Red poppies and Iris II) by

, oil on canvas * ''Étude pour La Vierge et l'enfant'' (Study for Virgin and child) by

, ink and bodycolor on paper (1951) * ''Femme à la gandoura bleue'' (Woman in blue gandurah) by

, oil on canvas (1951) * ''Femme au chapeau'' (Woman with a hat) by

charcoal Charcoal is a lightweight black carbon residue produced by strongly heating wood (or other animal and plant materials) in minimal oxygen to remove all water and volatile constituents. In the traditional version of this pyrolysis process, ca ...

on paper (1951) * ''Intérieur aux barres de soleil'' (Interior with sun bars) by

, oil on canvas (1942) * ''Le Violoniste'' (The violinist) by

, charcoal on canvas (1917) * ''Marguerite au chapeau de cuir'' (Marguerite with a leather hat) by

, oil on canvas (1914) * ''Nu accroupi'' (Crouching nude) by

, charcoal on paper (1936) * ''Nu rose, intérieur rouge'' (Pink nude, red interior) by

, oil on canvas (1947) * ''Tahiti II'' (Tahiti II) by

, bodycolor on canvas (1936)

Curator

In 2013, Carrie Pilto was appointed the director of the Matisse Museum. Pilto was previously a project assistant curator at the

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) is a modern art, modern and contemporary art museum and nonprofit organization located in San Francisco, California. SFMOMA was the first museum on the West Coast devoted solely to 20th-century art ...

from 2007 until 2011, where she worked on "The Steins Collect," a travelling exhibition of the collection of Gertrude, Leo and Michael Stein. She took over from Dominique Szymusiak.Carrie Pilto to join Matisse Museum
''

The Art Newspaper ''The Art Newspaper'' is a monthly print publication, with daily updates online, founded in 1990 and based in London and New York City. It covers news of the visual arts as they are affected by international politics and economics, developments i ...

'', 21 January 2013.

Temporary exhibits

* ''Matisse and the tissues' colors'', 2004 * '' Rouault, correspondances avec Matisse'', from March 25 to June 17, 2007 * ''

Chagall Marc Chagall (born Moishe Shagal; – 28 March 1985) was a Russian and French artist. An early modernism, modernist, he was associated with the School of Paris, École de Paris, as well as several major art movement, artistic styles and created ...

and

, l'empreinte d'un peintre'', from November 18, 2006, to February 26, 2007 * ''Weaving Matisse'', 2014.

Gallery

File:Musée Matisse002.jpg File:MuséeDépartementalHenriMatisseLeCatteau-Cambrésis.jpg File:Musée Matisse019.jpg File:Musée Matisse024.jpg

References