Apples

1916

When the 45-year-old Henri Matisse was rejected from military service at the outbreak of World War I, a friend encouraged him to contribute to the war effort the best way he could: by continuing to paint well. This led to a productive period of compositional and material experimentation—including this canvas—that Matisse hoped would sustain the tradition of French painting in the face of a cultural and national threat.

Public domain · CC0
Free to download and reuse. Image courtesy of Art Institute of Chicago.

Artist

Henri Matisse French, 1869–1954

Date

1916

Medium

Oil on canvas

Dimensions

116.5 × 89.5 cm (45 7/8 × 35 3/16 in.)

Origin

France

Collection

Art Institute of Chicago

Credit

Gift of Florene May Schoenborn and Samuel A. Marx