Oil on canvas

90 × 120 cm

Signed (lower left): “AUGUSTE / MATISSE”​​

Originally from Nevers, Auguste Matisse began his artistic training at the École des Beaux-Arts in Dijon before joining Léon Bonnat’s studio at the Beaux-Arts in Paris. In 1895, he became a member of the Société des Artistes Français and exhibited at both the Salon and the Salon d’Automne. Toward the end of the nineteenth century, he settled on the Île-de-Bréhat, where he lived modestly in a small house among local fishermen and sailors.​ Enchanted by the sea, he painted it relentelessly, paying meticulous attention to the movement of the tides.

 

In La Mer, the horizon is placed high, leaving the sea to occupy almost the entire composition. Matisse works the surface in broad, layered strokes, passing from deep greens and blues to greys, ochres, and pale bands of foam. The water still carries the heaviness of a storm just passed as the sky begins to open. Warm light breaks through the clouds and spreads across the sea, transforming the atmosphere of the painting. What might first appear unsettled gradually gives way to calm: the returning sun softens the movement of the waves and seems to announce a moment of peace.

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