Henri Matisse:
The Cut-Outs

Henri Matisse: Drawing with Scissors celebrates the artist’s groundbreaking late-career innovation—the cut-out—a radical art form he developed in the late 1940s using paper and scissors as his primary tools. Assisted by studio aides who painted sheets of paper in vivid gouache, Matisse cut and arranged the pieces into dynamic compositions he described as “cutting directly into color” and “drawing with scissors.” Evolving from intimate designs for works like Jazz (1947) and Christmas Eve (1952) into monumental, immersive creations such as Memory of Oceania (1953) and The Swimming Pool(1952), the cut-outs bridged abstraction and decoration, redefining modern art. Once dismissed as mere diversions, these luminous compositions are now recognized as the visionary culmination of Matisse’s lifelong exploration of color, movement, and form.