Brooklyn Museum: European Art: Nude in a Wood (Nu dans la forêt; Nu assis dans le bois)

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Nude in a Wood (Nu dans la forêt; Nu assis dans le bois)

Mixing expanses of prepared but unpainted panel with patches and arabesques of orange, pink, green, mauve, and violet pigments, Matisse thoroughly integrates a seated female figure (his wife) into a landscape whose space remains largely undefined. Despite the radicality of the technique and palette, Matisse's subject matter—the coexistence of humankind and nature—harks back to the long-standing tradition of the pastoral landscape and its evocation of timeless harmony. Matisse painted this work at a transitional moment in the development of his aesthetic, as he moved from pointillism, with its regularized touches of paint, to the primacy of line and flat color.

Artist: Henri Matisse, French, 1869-1954
Medium: Oil on board mounted on panel
Place Made: France
Dates: 1906
Dimensions: 16 x 12 3/4 in. (40.6 x 32.4 cm)
Signature: Signed lower right: "Henri Matisse"
Collections: European Art
Museum Location: This item is on view in Beaux-Arts Court, North, 3rd Floor
Accession Number: 52.150
Credit Line: Gift of George F. Of
Image: Detail, 52.150_cropped_PS1.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph, 2007