Henri Matisse

Olivier Sainsère, Paris
Galerie Nathan, Zurich
Acquired from the above by the present owner on 24th November 1975

Paris, Galerie Charpentier, Natures mortes françaises, 1951
Paris, Galerie Charpentier, Plaisirs de la campagne, 1954, no. 115

The board is stable. There are two small 1cm. sq. areas of retouching to the upper right and lower left corners of the work. All retouching is visible under UV light. Apart from three nailhead-sized spots of retouching to the table in the lower left quadrant with some small associated paint losses, and a light 10cm. scratch in the lower right quadrant, this work is in good condition. Colours: Overall fairly accurate in the catalogue illustration.
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This striking and very pleasant still-life of various objects arranged on a table demonstrates Matisse's continued investigation of the still-life genre which was a major preoccupation of the artist from around the 1850s. It was as a painter of still-lifes that Matisse first made his reputation at the Salon de la Nationale in 1896, and during this formative period, he made numerous copies of works by artists who had specialised in this particular genre, notably five copies after Chardin and a large copy of Le Dessert by the Dutch seventeenth century artist, Jan Davidsz de Heem. 

After Matisse painted La Desserte in 1897, the culmination of the first period of still-life works, he turned primarily to landscape painting. However, in the winter of 1898-99, he returned consistently to still-lifes, painting a series of works that showed considerably increased awareness of avant-garde developments. These ranged in style from pointillism to more flattened planes but by far the most important influence was that of Cézanne. It was in 1899 that Matisse purchased a painting of bathers by Cézanne, now in the Musée du Petit Palais in Paris, which was to be his most prized possession. Speaking of Cézanne in 1925, Matisse noted: 'If only you knew the moral strength, the encouragement that his remarkable example gave me all my life! In moments of doubt, when I was still searching for myself, frightened sometimes by my discoveries, I thought: "If Cézanne is right, I am right", because I knew Cézanne had made no mistake. There are, you see, constructional laws in the work of Cézanne which are useful to a young painter. He had, among his great virtues, this merit of wanting the tones to be forces in a painting, giving the highest mission to his painting' (Interview with Jacques Guenne, 1925, reprinted in Jack D. Flam, Matisse on Art, New York, 1978, p. 55) Cézanne's influence on Matisse's work is certainly very discernible in La table servie dans le jardin, not only in general approach but also in technique and choice of motifs. The composition of the present work – an arrangement of fruit, tableware, a bottle, a book and a cloth draped over the side of the table – could surely not be more Cézannesque.

Matisse's proto-Fauvist palette and advanced treatment of space, evident early on in his artistic career, is very visible in this painting. The still-life is presented outdoors on a table with foliage in the background but the primary focus of the composition remains on the individual objects laid out on the table. It is particularly the arrangement of objects on the table and the artist's careful handling of the brushwork and strong contrast of colours that provide the work with a clear and distinct depth and perspective.