| Goldfish | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Artist | Henri Matisse |
| Year | 1912 |
| Medium | Oil on canvas |
| Dimensions | 140 cm× 98 cm(55 in× 39 in) |
| Location | Pushkin Museum, Moscow |
Goldfish is an oil-on-canvas still life painting by French visual artist Henri Matisse. Painted in 1912, Goldfish was part of a series that Matisse produced between the spring and early summer of 1912.
In the early 1900s, Matisse established himself as a leader of the Fauvism art movement. [1] Fauvism emphasised a strong use of color and painterly qualities, as opposed to realistic representations found in Impressionist art. In 1912, Matisse visited Tangier, Morocco, where he noted how the locals would be fascinated by goldfish swimming in bowls. [2]
Shortly after his visit to Morocco, Matisse produced a series of paintings that included Goldfish between the spring and early summer. [2] Goldfish was painted in Matisse's garden conservatory at his home in Issy-les-Moulineaux. [2] He moved there to escape the pressures of Paris.
The motif of fish in aquariums was notable in his work and would become a recurring sight from in the early and mid-1910s. [3] [4] [5]
The 1912 Goldfish painting was unlike other Matisse works featuring goldfish, as the four goldfish themselves are the focus of the piece. [2] Matisse continued the use of bright colours found in his Fauvist work on Goldfish. The painting features a "bright orange [that] strongly contrasts with the more subtle pinks and greens that surround the fish bowl and the blue-green background." [2]
A still life, the painting features "Matisse's own plants, his own garden furniture, and his own fish tank." [2] Additionally, Matisse's "depiction of space" in the piece creates a tension. The goldfish can be seen from two different angles simultaneously: from the front, where the viewer can immediately recognise them, and from above, where they are "merely suggested by colorful brushstrokes." [2]
Smarthistory wrote that Goldfish is "an illustration of some of the major themes in Matisse's painting: his use of complementary colors, his quest for an idyllic paradise, his appeal for contemplative relaxation for the viewer and his complex construction of pictorial space." [2]
The piece was purchased by Sergei Shchukin in Paris from Matisse's studio in 1912, and was a part of Shchukin's Pink Drawing Room ensemble in his home. [3] Since 1948, the work has been located at the Pushkin Museum in Moscow, Russia. [3] Goldfish holds the distinction of being the featured Matisse work found in the College Board's AP Art History curriculum. [2]
Henri Émile Benoît Matisse was a French visual artist, known for both his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a draughtsman, printmaker, and sculptor, but is known primarily as a painter.
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Henri Charles Manguin was a French painter, associated with the Fauves.
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Woman with a Hat is an oil-on-canvas painting by Henri Matisse. It depicts Matisse's wife, Amélie Matisse. It was painted in 1905 and exhibited at the Salon d'Automne during the autumn of the same year, along with works by André Derain, Maurice de Vlaminck and several other artists later known as "Fauves".
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The Dessert: Harmony in Red is a painting by Henri Matisse. Previously titled Harmony in Blue, the painting had a blue background when Matisse first exhibited it in 1908. In 1909, Matisse changed the blue to red, retitling it The Dessert: Harmony in Red.
Zorah on the Terrace is an oil on canvas painting by French painter Henri Matisse, created in 1912. It is in the collection of the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow, Russia.
Odalisque With Raised Arms is a painting by Henri Matisse, completed in 1923. The oil on canvas measuring 23 by 26 inches is held in the National Gallery of Art, in Washington D.C.. Matisse's style changed and evolved drastically throughout his career, including his wide and varying collection of paintings depicting female nudes. His odalisque paintings were inspired by his trip to Morocco. Many of the female subjects in the Odalisque paintings were modeled after Matisse's main model at the time, Henriette Darricarrère.
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Window at Tangier; also referred to as La Fenêtre à Tanger, Paysage vu d'une fenêtre, and Landscape viewed from a window, Tangiers, is a painting by Henri Matisse, executed in 1912. It is held at the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow.
Luxe, Calme et Volupté is a 1904 oil painting by the French artist Henri Matisse. Both foundational in the oeuvre of Matisse and a pivotal work in the history of art, Luxe, Calme et Volupté is considered the starting point of Fauvism. This painting is a dynamic and vibrant work created early on in his career as a painter. It displays an evolution of the Neo-Impressionist style mixed with a new conceptual meaning based in fantasy and leisure that had not been seen in works before.
Fauvism is a style of painting and an art movement that emerged in France at the beginning of the 20th century. It was the style of les Fauves, a group of modern artists whose works emphasized painterly qualities and strong colour over the representational or realistic values retained by Impressionism. While Fauvism as a style began around 1904 and continued beyond 1910, the movement as such lasted only a few years, 1905–1908, and had three exhibitions. The leaders of the movement were André Derain and Henri Matisse.
Sergei Ivanovich Shchukin was a Russian businessman who became an art collector, mainly of French Impressionist and Post-Impressionist art.
Pyotr Ivanovich Shchukin was an art collector who built an important collection of Russian ancient art and artifacts and owned several impressionist masterpieces.
Female Nude is an 1876 painting by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, also known as Nude Woman Sitting on a Couch, Anna, After Bathing and Pearl. It is housed in the Pushkin Museum, in Moscow, and is an example of Renoir's many nude paintings, a recurring subject that preoccupied him throughout his life. The painting was created in the characteristic soft brush strokes of the Impressionist movement to emphasise feminine beauty.
Bathers by a River, also known as Bathers at the River and occasionally referred to as simply Bathers, is a large 1917 oil-on-canvas painting by French artist Henri Matisse. Matisse began painting the canvas in 1909 and finished the painting in the fall of 1917, making it one of three pictures he painted during the Battle of Verdun.
French visual artist Henri Matisse was known for his use of color and draughtsmanship. In the early 20th century, Matisse became a leader of the Fauvism art movement, which was an early movement in the broader Post-impressionist era.
Arab Coffeehouse, is an oil-on-canvas painting by French visual artist Henri Matisse. Produced in 1913, Arab Coffeehouse was part of a series of goldfish paintings that Matisse produced in the 1910s and 1920s.
