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Still Life with Geranium

Henri Matisse (French, 1869–1954)

1906

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$18

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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.

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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

Like his artistic hero, Paul Cezanne, Henri Matisse merged the traditional and the avant-garde. In Still Life with Geranium, he transformed a simple still life into a populated Arcadian landscape painting, rendered in the brilliant color, thick paint, and rapid brushwork characteristic of the group of painters known as the Fauves (French for “wild beasts”). Matisse was recognized by critics as the leader of this group.

This composition is one of contrasts—the pale palette and light brushwork in the upper half of the picture are juxtaposed with the darker colored, heavily painted lower half; the firmly planted pose of the female figure is contraposed with the almost-fleeing figure of the male; and the red vegetables grown near Paris are set near ceramic objects from exotic, faraway places. One of many still-life paintings in which Matisse incorporated his own figurative sculptures, here the artist challenged his viewers’ expectations by rendering his modeled figures with minimal color and simple lines. Probably represented as plaster casts, these figures would later be made in bronze editions by the artist; versions of Woman Leaning on Her Hands (on the right of the geranium) and Thorn Extractor (on the left) are also in the collection of the Art Institute.

This is one of thirty-five works that comprise the Winterbotham Collection. Click here to learn more about the collection.

Medium
Oil on canvas
Original size
100.3 × 81.5 cm (39 1/2 × 32 1/8 in.)
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago · 1932.1342 ↗
Museum record · 2 owners · 30 exhibitions

Provenance

  • The artist; sold to Bernheim-Jeune, Paris, Mar. 1, 1907; sold to Oskar (July 21, 1875–Aug. 19, 1947) and Greta (1884–1977) Moll, Breslau, Germany (present-day Wrocław, Poland), from Oct. 27, 1908.
  • Likely acquired by the Valentine Gallery, New York, inventory #147, fall 1927; sold to Frank Crowninshield (June 24, 1872–Dec. 28, 1947), Paris, Apr. 11, 1928; returned to the Valentine Gallery, Paris, Aug. 1928; sold to Frederick Clay Bartlett (1873–1953), Chicago, Oct. 27, 1928; sold to the Art Institute of Chicago, Dec. 27, 1932.

Exhibitions

  • Berlin, Paul Cassirer, X. Jahrgang, 1907/1908, September/October: I. Ausstellung, Sept. 30–Oct. 18, 1907, as Geranium.
  • Moscow, Zolotoe runo/Toison d’Or, Salon Zolotogo Runa: Salon de La Toison d’Or, Apr. 18–May 24, 1908, no cat. Probably Berlin, Paul Cassirer, V. Ausstellung: Henri Matisse, Jan. 1–20, 1909, as Stilleben.
  • Berlin, Ausstellungshaus am Kurfürstendamm, 26.
  • Ausstellung der Berliner Secession, Spring 1913, as Geranium.
  • Cambridge, MA, Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, Exhibition of French Painting of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, Mar. 6–Apr. 6, 1929, as Still Life.
  • Cleveland Museum of Art, Autumn Flower Show: The Flower in Art, Nov. 1–Dec. 1, 1935, no Museum of Art, Exhibition of Paintings by Matisse, Nov. 10–Dec. 18, 1938, no cat. Baltimore Museum of Art, Modern Painting Isms and How They Grew, Jan. 12–Feb. 11, 1940, no cat. no., as Still Life, Geraniums.
  • Los Angeles County Museum, Aspects of French Painting from Cézanne to Picasso, Jan. 15–Mar. 2, 1941, as Still Life: Geranium Plant, Fruit.
  • New York, Marie Harriman Gallery, Les Fauves, Oct. 20–Nov. 22, 1941, as Nature Morte au Geranium, circa 1906.
  • Decatur Art Center, Masterpieces of European and American Art Lent by the Art Institute of Chicago, Mar. 4–25, 1945, as Still Life with Geranium Plant; Springfield, IL, Art Association, Apr. 4–30, 1945, as Still Life with Geranium Plant.
  • Milwaukee Art Institute, Flower Paintings, Sept. 6–Oct. 2, 1945, as Still Life with Geraniums.
  • Art Institute of Chicago, The Winterbotham Collection, May 23–June 22, 1947, as Still Life with Geranium, 1905.
  • Philadelphia Museum of Art, Henri Matisse: Retrospective Exhibition of Paintings, Drawings, and Sculpture, Apr. 3–May 10, 1948, as Still Life–Geranium Plant, Fruit, 1908.
  • Saginaw Museum, Exhibition of Nineteenth Century French Painting at the Saginaw Museum, Dec. 19, 1948–Jan. 9, 1949, as Still Life with Geranium.
  • Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, Texas State Fair, The Winterbotham Collection of Twentieth Century European Paintings, Oct. 8–Nov. 6, 1949, no cat. New York, Sidney Janis Gallery, Les Fauves, Nov. 13–Dec. 23, 1950, as Geranium Plant, Fruit, 1908.
  • New York, Museum of Modern Art, Henri Matisse, Nov. 13, 1951–Jan. 13, 1952, as Still Life–Geranium Plant, Fruit on Table, (1906); Cleveland Museum of Art, Feb. 5–Mar. 16, 1952; Art Institute of Chicago, Apr. 1–May 4, 1952; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, May 22–July 6, 1952.
  • Denver Art Museum, Schleier Gallery, 10 × 10: Ten Directions by Ten Artists, Jan. 7–Feb. 14, 1954, as Still Life, 1906.
  • Arts Club of Chicago, Les Fauves, Jan. 10–Feb. 15, 1956, as Still Life: Geranium Plant, Fruit on the Table, 1906.
  • Omaha, NE, Joslyn Art Museum, Notable Paintings from Midwestern Collections, Nov. 30, 1956–Jan. 2, 1957, no cat. no., as Still Life: Geranium Plant, Fruit on Table.
  • Los Angeles, UCLA Art Galleries, Henri Matisse Retrospective 1966, Jan. 5–Feb. 27, 1966, as Still Life with Geranium Plant and Fruit/Nature morte au géranium, (1906); Art Institute of Chicago, Mar. 11–Apr. 24, 1966; Boston, Museum of Fine Arts, May 11–June 26, 1966.
  • London, Hayward Gallery, Matisse, 1869–1954: A Retrospective Exhibition at the Hayward Gallery, July 11–Sept. 8, 1968, as Still Life with Geranium Plant and Fruit, 1906.
  • Paris, Grand Palais, Henri Matisse: Exposition du centenaire, Apr. 21–Sept. 21, 1970, as Nature morte au pelargonium (Nature morte au géranium), 1906.
  • Tokyo, Seibu Museum of Art, Shikisai no shōri: Machisu to yajūha ten /Exposition: Les Fauves, Aug. 15–Sept. 25, 1974, as Nature morte au geranium et aux fruits, 1906; Osaka, Galeries Seibu Takatsuki, Nov. 15–Dec. 8, 1974, as Kudamono to zeraniumu no aru seibutsu /Nature morte au géranium et aux fruits, 1906; Fukuoka, Prefectural Culture Center, Nov. 5–30, 1974.
  • Zurich, Kunsthaus, Henri Matisse, Oct. 15, 1982–Jan. 16, 1983, as Nature morte au géranium, um 1907; Düsseldorf, Städtische Kunsthalle, Jan. 29–Apr. 4, 1983.
  • New York, Museum of Modern Art, Henri Matisse: A Retrospective, Sept. 24, 1992–Jan. 12, 1993, as Still Life with a Geranium/Nature morte au pélargonium.
  • Nagaoka, Niigata Prefectural Museum of Modern Art, Shikago Bijutsukan-ten: Kindai kaiga no 100-nen /Masterworks of Modern Art from the Art Institute of Chicago, Apr. 20–May 29, 1994, as Zeraniumu; Nagoya, Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art, June 10–July 24, 1994; Yokohama Museum of Art, Aug. 6–Sept. 25, 1994.
  • Dallas Museum of Art, Nasher Sculpture Center, Matisse: Painter as Sculptor, Jan. 21–Apr. 29, 2007 (ills.), as Still Life with a Geranium, 1906; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, June 9–Sept. 16, 2007; Baltimore Museum of Art, Oct. 28, 2007–Feb. 3, 2008.
  • 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 The Geranium, Fall 1906.
  • Mannheim, Kunsthalle Mannheim, Inspiration Matisse, Se, 2019–Jan. 19, 2020, as Le Géranium.
  • New York City, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Vertigo of Color: Matisse Derain and the Origins of Fauvism, Oct. 11, 2023–Jan. 21, 2024; Houston, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Feb. 25, 2024–May 27, 2024.
  • Riehen, Switzerland, Fondation Beyeler, Matisse - Invitation to the Voyage, Sept. 22, 2024-Jan. 26, 2025, no cat. no.
More prints by Henri Matisse →French prints →Still Life prints →Flower prints →

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