Fondation Beyeler
Until January 26, 2025

In autumn 2024, the Fondation Beyeler will host the first Henri Matisse retrospective in the German-speaking world in almost 20 years. Matisse was one of the most important artists of the Modernist movement. His ground-breaking work has had a profound influence on art across many generations, from his contemporaries to present day artists. By liberating colour from the subject and simplifying forms, he created a new basis for painting and introduced a new lightness to art.

With more than 70 major works on loan from prestigious European and American museums as well as private collections, the exhibition focuses on the development and diversity of the artist’s pioneering oeuvre. It begins with paintings from his early period around 1900, guides visitors through the revolutionary compositions of Fauvism and the experimental works of the 1910s to the sensuous paintings of the Nice period and the 1930s, culminating in the legendary silhouettes of his late works in the 1940s and 1950s. The conceptual starting point for the exhibition is Charles Baudelaire’s famous poem “Invitation to the Voyage” from 1857. Numerous leitmotifs and key themes that are at the heart of Baudelaire’s poem are also to be found in Matisse’s paintings. This is the starting point for an exhibition that welcomes visitors on a journey through Matisse’s unique life and work, which were in turn shaped by numerous voyages. In his exploration of countries such as Italy, Spain, and Morocco and as far afield as Tahiti, the artist always drew inspiration from the nature and art of other cultures.

https://www.fondationbeyeler.ch/en/exhibitions/henri-matisse

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