Apples
Henri Matisse (French, 1869–1954)1916
View the original$30
Type
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Materials & printing
Archival matte paper, 189 g/m² (10.3 mil), sourced from Japan, printed with multicolor water-based inkjet so every brushstroke stays crisp. Framed prints arrive ready to hang in a .75″ ayous-wood frame with an acrylite front. Sized to standard frames by cropping, never stretching — at most about 3% comes off one edge, which isn’t noticeable on most pieces, and we only offer a size when it stays that small.
Shipping & returns
Made to order and delivered in 5–8 business days (2–4 to print, 3–4 in transit). US shipping only for now. Because each print is made for your order, all sales are final — but if it arrives damaged or defective, send us a photo within 14 days and we’ll replace it free. Full policy.
Why is it this affordable?
A thin, flat margin on every piece — just enough to keep the store running. Most of what you pay is the print itself. We only sell sizes that reproduce at full quality, and we don’t mark up the large sizes the way most shops do.
About this work
When the 45-year-old Henri Matisse was rejected from military service at the outbreak of World War I, a friend encouraged him to contribute to the war effort the best way he could: by continuing to paint well. This led to a productive period of compositional and material experimentation that Matisse hoped would sustain the tradition of French painting in the face of a cultural and national threat.
Matisse painted this still-life composition twice—in the abstract work seen here and also in a more traditionally representational version. A hidden light source bathes the scene in warm tones, which are offset by a swath of green. Luminous black consumes the background, reflecting Matisse’s challenge to himself to use black as a “color of light, not darkness.”
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Original size
- 116.5 × 89.5 cm (45 7/8 × 35 3/16 in.)
Museum record · 2 owners · 22 exhibitions
Provenance
- The artist; sold to Galerie Bernheim-Jeune, Paris, Nov. 13, 1916; sold to Henry Bernstein, Jan. 15, 1917; sold to Galerie Bernheim-Jeune, Paris, from Dec. 13, 1917.
- Marius de Zayas, New York, by May 1919; sold to John Quinn (Apr. 24, 1870–July 28, 1924), New York, after Dec. 26, 1919; by descent to John Quinn Estate, New York, July 28, 1924; sold to F. Valentine Dudensing, New York, through American Art Association sale, lot 126, Feb. 9, 1927; sold to Pierre Matisse (June 13, 1900–Aug. 10, 1989), New York, by June 16, 1931; sold to Samuel A. Marx (1885–1964) and Florene May Schoenborn (c. 1903–Aug. 25, 1995), Chicago, Dec. 1940; given to the Art Institute of Chicago, Dec. 29, 1948.
Exhibitions
- New York, M. de Zayas, Exhibition of Paintings by Courbet, Manet, Degas, Renoir, Cézanne, Seurat, Matisse, Nov. 17–Dec. 6, 1919, as Apples.
- New York, Waldorf Astoria, Fourth Annual Exhibition of the Society of Independent Artists, Mar. 11–Apr. 1, 1920, as Still- Life, Apples.
- Possibly Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Exhibition of Paintings and Drawings by Representative Modern Masters, Apr. 17–May 9, 1920, as Apples.
- New York, Marius de Zayas Galleries, Paintings by Matisse, Dec. 6–25, 1920, no cat. New York, Sculptors' Gallery, Exhibition: Contemporary French Art, Mar. 24–Apr. 10, 1921, as Apples, 1919.
- New York, Galleries of Joseph Brummer, Exhibition of Works by Henri Matisse, Feb. 25–Mar. 22, 1924, as Apples.
- New York, F. Valentine Dudensing Galleries, Group Exhibition Modern French Painters, Mar. 8–Apr. 1927, no cat. Paris, Galeries Georges Petit, Henri-Matisse, June 16–July 25, 1931, as Les Pommes, 1918.
- Basel, Kunsthalle, Henri-Matisse, Aug. 9–Sept. 15, 1931, as Les Pommes, 1918.
- San Francisco Museum of Art, Henri-Matisse: Paintings, Drawings, Sculpture, Jan. 11–Feb. 24, 1936, as Bowl of Apples, 1916.
- Philadelphia Museum of Art, Henri Matisse: Retrospective Exhibition of Paintings, Drawings, and Sculpture, Apr. 3–May 10, 1948, as Bowl of Apples, 1916.
- New York, Museum of Modern Art, Henri Matisse, Nov. 13, 1951–Jan. 13, 1952, as Apples, (1916); Cleveland Museum of Art, Feb. 5–Mar. 16, 1952; Art Institute of Chicago, Apr. 1–May 4, 1952; San Francisco Museum of Art, May 22–July 6, 1952.
- New York, Museum of Modern Art, The School of Paris: Paintings from the Florene May Schoenborn and Samuel A. Marx Collection, Nov. 1, 1965–Jan. 2, 1966, no cat. no., as Apples, (1916); Art Institute of Chicago, Feb. 11–Mar. 27, 1966; City Art Museum of Saint Louis, Apr. 26–June 13, 1966; Mexico City, Museo de Arte Moderno, July 2–Aug. 7, 1966; San Francisco, Museum of Art, Sept. 2–Oct. 2, 1966.
- London, Hayward Gallery, Matisse, 1869–1954: A Retrospective Exhibition at the Hayward Gallery, July 11–Sept. 8, 1968, as Apples/Les Pommes, 1916.
- Paris, Grand Palais, Henri Matisse: Exposition du Centenaire, Apr. 21–Sept. 21, 1970, as Les pommes sur la table, sur fond noir et jaune, Issy, 1916.
- Washington, DC, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, “The Noble Buyer:” John Quinn, Patron of the Avant-Garde, June 15–Sept. 4, 1978, as Apples, 1916.
- Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg), State Hermitage Museum, Ot Delakrua do Matissa: Shedevry frantsuzskoi zhivopisi XIX–nachala XX veka, iz Muzeia Metropoliten v N’iu-Iorke i Khudozhestvennogo Instituta v Chikago, Mar. 15–May 10, 1988, as Iabloki, 1916; Moscow, Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, June 10–July 30, 1988.
- New York, Museum of Modern Art, Henri Matisse: A Retrospective, Sept. 24, 1992–Jan. 12, 1993, as Apples/Les pommes, Issy-les-Moulineaux, 1916.
- Paris, Centre Georges Pompidou, Henri Matisse 1904–1917, Feb. 25–June 21, 1993, as Les pommes, Issy-les-Moulineaux, été–automne 1916.
- New York, Museum of Modern Art, Objects of Desire: The Modern Still Life, May 25–Aug. 26, 1997, as Apples/Les Pommes, 1916; London, Hayward Gallery, Oct. 9, 1997–Jan. 4, 1998 (New York only).
- Art Institute of Chicago, Matisse: Radical Invention, 1913–1917, Mar. 20–June 20, 2010, cats.
- 39.1 and 39a, as Apples, late July–Nov. 1916; New York, Museum of Modern Art, July 18–Oct. 11, 2010.
- Paris, Centre Pompidou, Musée National d’Art Moderne, Matisse: In Search of True Painting, Mar. 7–June 18, 2012, as Apples, 1916; Copenhagen, Statens Museum for Kunst, July 14–Oct. 28, 2012; New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Dec. 4, 2012–Mar. 17, 2013.
- Fort Worth, Kimbell Art Museum, The Age of Picasso and Matisse: Modern Masters from the Art Institute of Chicago, Oct. 6, 2013–Feb. 16, 2014, no cat. no., as Apples, 1916.
