The Open Window

Open Window, Collioure

1905 · Painting

About the painting

The Open Window, also known as Open Window, Collioure, is a painting by Henri Matisse. The work, an oil on canvas, was painted in 1905 and exhibited at the Salon d'Automne in Paris the same year. It was bequeathed in 1998 by the estate of Mrs. John Hay Whitney to the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC.

It is an example of the Fauvist style of painting that Matisse became famous for, and for which he was a leader, roughly between 1900–1909. The Open Window depicts the view out the window of his apartment in Collioure, on the Southern coast of France. We see sailboats on the water, as viewed from Matisse's hotel window overlooking the harbour. He returned frequently to the theme of the open window in Paris and especially during the years in Nice and Etretat, and in his final years, particularly during the late 1940s.

Read on

Henri Matisse loved painting open windows and painted them throughout his career.

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Particulars

Accession number: 1998.74.7

Meanwhile, in the life of Henri Matisse

The whole life

June 1904
First Solo Exhibition
Matisse's first solo exhibition was held at the gallery of Ambroise Vollard, though it was not a great success.
summer 1904
Summer in Saint-Tropez with Signac
Together with the Neo-Impressionists Paul Signac and Henri Cross, Matisse went to Saint-Tropez, where he began working in the Divisionist technique. There he painted his first masterpiece, "Luxe, Calme et Volupté" (1904/1905).
summer 1905
Collioure: The Birth of Fauvism
Matisse spent the summer of 1905 with André Derain and Maurice de Vlaminck in the fishing village of Collioure on the Mediterranean. Together with Derain he created a new style that entered art history as Fauvism.
October 1905
Scandal at the Salon d'Automne
Matisse showed "The Open Window" and "Woman with a Hat"; Louis Vauxcelles's review of 17 October 1905 gave the group the nickname "fauves" ("wild beasts"). "Woman with a Hat" was bought by Leo Stein for 500 francs, which raised the market value of the artist's work.
1906
Meeting Pablo Picasso
The first meeting between Matisse and Picasso took place at the Steins' salon on the Rue de Fleurus in Paris. Their creative friendship was full of rivalry and mutual respect.