Henri Matisse French, 1869–1954
Bathers by a River
1909–10, 1913, and 1916–17
Henri Matisse's 'Bathers by a River' (1909–1917), begun as part of the Shchukin commission that produced 'Dance' and 'Music', was reworked for a decade into an austere figurative abstraction: four vertical nudes in a stylised landscape of black trunks and grey-green leaves. Painted across the years of the First World War, it is a pivotal work in Matisse's development of a more severe, reductive language. Oil on canvas, Art Institute of Chicago.
Exhibition Venue
Image source: Art Institute of Chicago