Purple Robe - Matisse

Henri Matisse was born in France in 1869, around the time the telephone was invented and died in 1954 at the age of 84.

His parents owned a general store and his dad wanted Henri to be a lawyer. At the age of 25, he began to work as a French country lawyer, but had an attack of appendicitis and had to stay in bed, recuperating for almost a year. While recovering from appendicitis, his mother gave him a paint set and from that day forward, his life was focused on being an artist. Matisse remembered this time – “When I started to paint, I felt transported into a kind of paradise... In everyday life I was usually bored and vexed by the things that people were always telling me I must do. Starting to paint I felt gloriously free, quiet and alone.”

Matisse went to art school but didn’t like the realistic way he was being taught to paint. He wanted to use bolder and brighter colors to be more expressive.

He was extremely poor as a young artist, eating only rice, having to resist eating the fruit he bought for his still life paintings. He married and had 3 children. His wife was a milliner (hat maker) and she supported him so he can remain an artist. He warmed up his fingers every day before painting by playing the violin for hours.

Henri was heavily influenced by simplistic forms of African sculptures and masks and the decorative patterns found in Japanese prints. He is considered the father of the “Fauvism” movement; an art style that lasted only four years, beginning in 1905. The word Fauvism is French for “wild beasts” because the paintings had bright, wild and unusual colors and patterns and the subjects in the paintings were shown in a simple way. Matisse responded to his critics by wearing a sheepskin lined coat inside out to look more “beastly”. His paintings were ultimately accepted by art collectors and buyers during his lifetime (which was unusual) and he ultimately made a great deal of money to buy his beloved home in Giverny. He kept tropical birds, letting them fly free in his home.

Matisse liked to collect pieces of patterned fabric when he traveled and would use the designs of the fabric in many of his paintings.

When he became too old to paint, he started making brightly colored cut-outs with scissors.

The purple robe was completed in 1937. It depicts Matisse's assistant. At the time Matisse had no intention to paint a portrait that looked like a photograph. When accused of painting unrealistic images of women Matisse explained, "I do not create a woman, I make a picture." He readily admitted that his images were not faithful re-creations of reality.

This painting is an example of Henri Matisse's mature decorative style. Matisse depicts his model in an exotic Moroccan costume, surrounded by a complex of abstract design and exotic color. This is an example of one of the final groups of oil paintings in Matisse's career.

questions:

• What is the first thing that you see? This is the focal point. The focal point is what first draws your eye, something that stands out. Hint — The flowers, particularly the white flowers are the focal point.
• List the colors you see in this painting. How many are there? Are they repeated? Hint — Matisse has used a basic secondary color scheme in this painting. The vibrant colors are quieted by the use of black, grey and white.
• What is a pattern? Hint — A repetition of line, color, and shape to create a type of texture is a pattern. How many different patterns to you see? With so many patterns, what holds this painting together?Look closely to notice all the patterns are a variation of the vertical stripe. By changing the stripe, through color and line, Matisse has added interest to the work and repeated a theme through repetition.
• Why do you think Matisse called this painting the Purple Robe? Why not call it the white flowers or striped walls?
• Do you think he knew this lady? Could it have been a sister, aunt, or friend?
• Why do you think he chose to flatten everything out in this painting? Hint — He was a type of rebel and enjoyed going against the rules. The flatness of the painting seems to agree with the wild choice of colors. It serves to upset the balance.
• Do you think the wild colors would be as effective without the flatness or use of perspective? Since the woman appears to be so flat in the painting she almost looks like she is standing up. The table is at a definite slant and the floor goes up hill. Matisse knew how to use perspective because of his formal training as an artist.
• Can you see emotion in the woman’s face or eyes? She is staring, but her face and eyes do not convey much feeling. She is like a still life. We would only have to guess her internal thoughts. The emotion of the painting is in the gaiety of line and color. Does this feeling about the woman change as we remove the vase of flowers? (no) It is like two paintings are placed together – a still life and a portrait. Matisse was famous for both. (cover vase first, then cover woman to emphasize point).

activities:

Ask the students to look at their own clothing. How many students have some variation of the vertical stripe in their clothing? Draw a plain vertical stripe on the board. Invite the students to the board to change the stripe in anyway while keeping its vertical direction. Invite a new set of students to add some horizontal direction to the vertical. The new addition must be a variation on the stripe. After discussing the results of the exercise, provide paper and crayons and ask the students to all create their own drawings based on the print and its use of pattern and stripes.

Bring in a robe, some old wall paper books, etc. to create your own living art scene within the classroom. Compare what you have created with the painting, ask the students to draw a picture of the living art scene.

Bring in a template of a shirt and have the students act as fashion designers. Ask them to decorate the shirt with patterns like they have seen in the print.

Have students take out colored pencils or pens and do a still life of bold colored flowers in a large vase (bring in from home if possible).

Follow this link for a project that re-creates the flower vase picture using construction paper: Matisse-Flower Vase Lesson

resources:

Additional Kid Friendly Resources at the AHML are "Henri Matisse: drawing with scissors" by Jane O'Connor, and "Henri Matisse" by Mike Venezia.