Matisse. A sort of paradise

Woman looking at The Dance II (1932), signed "Henri Matisse, Nice 1932". Studio Under the Eaves (1903); Matisse’s words over, "When I started to paint, I felt transported into a sort of paradise…" Interior with a Top Hat (1896). Seascape. Dinner Table (1897). Self Portrait. VO says that he "charged head down" into painting, though it was quite alien to his "normal life as a man". Pont Saint-Michel (c.1900). Notre Dame (c.1900). Still Life with Oranges II (1899). "I studied each ingredient of painting separately…" Seaside view, c.1904. The Window (1905). View of Collioure (1906). "I cannot copy Nature in a servile way…" Red Fish and a Sculpture (1911). Tangiers: Landscape Seen Through a Window. Red Fish and a Sculpture. Yellow Curtain (1914-1915)."It is contemplative action – or active contemplation." Paintings including The Moroccan in Green / El Rifeno de pie (1912-1913) and Yellow Curtain. The Moroccans (1916). A Vase with Oranges (1916). The Moroccans. Portrait of Mlle Yvonne Landsberg (1914). The Window (1916). Studio, Quay of Saint-Michel (1916). The Window (Interior with Forget-Me-Nots) (1916), and others including Tea in the Garden (1919). The Dance II. "I had conceived The Dance long before, and put it into picture after picture…" Large Reclining Nude (aka The Pink Nude) (1935).
Woman in Blue (1937), Still Life with Pomegranates (1947), etc. "I express the space and the things that are there as naturally as if I had before me only the sun and the sky…" Red Interior. Still Life on a Blue Table (1947). The remainder of the images are gouaches découpées. The Flowing Hair / La chevelure (1952). "Truth and reality in art begin at the point where the artist ceases to understand what he is doing and is capable of doing…" Nu bleu / Blue Nude III (1952). The Swimming Pool, Nice-Cimiez, Hotel Regina, Late Summer 1952 (1952). "Everything is new, everything is fresh, as if the world had just been born…" La Negresse (1953). Apollo / Apollon (1952). La Negresse. "Everything seems to indicate that I am about to start working on large compositions…". Memory of Oceania / Souvenir d’Océanie (1953). The Snail / L’Escargot (1953). Signature of "H. Matisse 53". Credits.

From the exhibition at the Hayward Gallery London.
Directed by Lawrence Gowing and John Jones;
with quotations from Matisse and music by Erik Satie.
Photography Nic Knowland;
Assistant Jim Dibling;
Music by Erik Satie;
Played by Aldo Ciccolini,
Jean-Joel Barbier;
Editor John Ralph;
Production Manager Judith Marriott;
Directed by Lawrence Gowing,
John Jones.
Produced by Allan King Associates for The Arts Council of Great Britain.
Colour by Technicolor