This artwork is protected by copyright. We cannot display images of works by artists who passed away after 1954.
by Henri Matisse, 1952
Henri Matisse made this Blue Nude II in 1952 using his paper cut-out technique, developed after illness confined him to bed. He called this method "painting with scissors," cutting shapes from painted paper and arranging them into compositions. The seated nude emerges from four pieces of blue gouache paper against white.
The figure recalls his earlier painted nudes but achieves new abstraction through the cut-out medium. Matisse worked on the Blue Nude series at age 82, finding the technique liberated him from the physical demands of painting. The simplified forms distill decades of studying the human body.
Blue Nude II is part of a series of four blue nudes Matisse created in 1952. Each explores the same pose in different configurations. This version resides at the Centre Pompidou in Paris, representing the culmination of Matisse's lifelong pursuit of color and form. The cut-outs, once dismissed as minor works, are now considered among his greatest achievements.
Other masterpieces from the Post-Impressionism movement

Vincent van Gogh, 1888
Musée d'Orsay, Paris

Vincent van Gogh, 1888
National Gallery, London

Vincent van Gogh, 1889
Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York

Vincent van Gogh, 1890
Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam

Vincent van Gogh, 1889
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

Vincent van Gogh, 1889
Getty Center, Los Angeles

Vincent van Gogh, 1890
Musée d'Orsay, Paris

Vincent van Gogh, 1888
Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven
Luxury wall art with the same mood and energy. Gallery-quality canvas, no museum crowds.
Browse Collection