Matisse, Henri (1869-1954)
Le bonheur de vivre (The Joy of Life)
1905–1906
Oil on canvas, 176.5 x 240.7 cm
Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia
© Succession H. Matisse, Paris
This monumental canvas, which once hung in the famous collection of Gertrude and Leo Stein, is one of the watershed paintings in the history of European modernism. When Matisse first exhibited it in Paris in 1906, audiences were shocked. The problem wasn’t the subject; the theme of sensual arcadia, with figures dancing and making music in a natural setting, had been a standard for centuries. It was the execution—the bold colors, the jarring shifts in scale, and the distorted anatomies. As Gertrude Stein would later write, “Matisse painted Le Bonheur de vivre and created a new formula for color that would leave its mark on every painter of the period.” (BF)
In the 1906 Salon des Indépendants (March-April) Matisse had only shown a large format painting, Le bonheur de vivre, which was immediately acquired by Leo and Gertrude Stein. At the same time, their brother Michael bought the sketch for Le bonheur de vivre, which had been included in an exhibition at the Galerie Druet, as the same time as the Salon des Indépendants. It was also in the exhibition at the Galerie Druet that Leo and Gertrude acquired Canal du Midi. (Tomàs Llorens, T-B)
See also:
• Stein, Gertrude (1874-1946)