Henri Matisse View of Notre Dame Paris, quai Saint-Michel, spring 1914

  • MoMA, Floor 5, 518 The Alfred H. Barr, Jr. Galleries

Matisse made several views of Notre Dame cathedral from his quai Saint-Michel studio in 1914. In February his friend Marcel Sembat wrote about two views the artist had completed, one "very beautiful", the other "lopsided", which "no one would understand immediately" but he preferred. Matisse reworked features of this canvas before covering almost the entire surface in blue. He left early compositional elements visible beneath the paint, accentuating the temporal quality of building a work of art over time.

Gallery label from Matisse: Radical Invention, 1913-1917, July 18–October 11, 2010.
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
58 x 37 1/8" (147.3 x 94.3 cm)
Credit
Acquired through the Lillie P. Bliss Bequest (by exchange), and the Henry Ittleson, A. Conger Goodyear, Mr. and Mrs. Robert Sinclair Funds, and the Anna Erickson Levene Bequest given in memory of her husband, Dr. Phoebus Aaron Theodor Levene
Object number
116.1975
Copyright
© 2021 Succession H. Matisse / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Department
Painting and Sculpture

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Provenance Research Project

This work is included in the Provenance Research Project, which investigates the ownership history of works in MoMA's collection.

The artist, 1914 - 1954
Artist's estate, 1954 - 1958
Pierre Matisse, New York. 1958 - 1975
E. V. Thaw & Co., New York (acting as agent for Matisse family). 1975
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Purchased from Thaw, 1975

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