The still life Seashell on Black Marble (1940) is from the artist’s later years. It was painted in Nice when trying times had started for France. The painter celebrates the beauty of objects and creates a feeling of the harmony and integrity of life, but at the same time a sense of anxiety is conveyed by the intensity of colors. Matisse wrote in one of his letters: “...I think, in terms of colors, this one is the most expressive picture I ever painted.” Black seems especially powerful in this art work. Matisse wrote: “Black is also a color.” The black marble that is used as a background, adding a sort of radiance to various objects, is also beautiful on its own. Images on the marble fancifully resonate with the ornaments on the cup, coffee pot, and shell contours, creating figurative iterations. The subject of this late still life by Matisse has been a recurrent theme of his entire legacy – the painter’s admiration of the beauty of life and nature.
Our compatriot Lidia N. Delektorskaya, a friend and a secretary of Henry Matisse, donated this art work to our museum.