Circumstances and Results

Henri Matisse - Notre-Dame, une fin d'après-midi (A Glimpse of Notre Dame in the Late Afternoon) - 1902 - Oil on paper mounted on canvas, 72.5 x 54.5 cm (28 1/2 x 21 1/2 in); Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY (click photo for larger image)Artists are most definitely affected by situations in their lives--and traces of that can be seen in their work. The dark colors and somber mood in the painting featured here exhibit Henri Matisse’s (1869-1954) dark period, a time when he was going through personal difficulties.

One struggle was that Matisse was not able to find many buyers for his works, which made it hard to provide for his family. His wife, Amelie, had to open a dress shop in order to help support the family. These hardships were compounded when Matisse and his wife were found to be scapegoats for a conspiracy involving Amelie’s mother, a housekeeper for the Humbert family. Amelie was forced to close her shop, and Matisse was left to provide for his entire family again. This painting--paler and more transparent than his Fauve pieces--also embodies an influence of medieval illuminated manuscripts, known for their delicacy and the translucent effects produced by painting on parchment.