In the manner of Henri Matisse
French, 1869–1954
The Balcony Garden, 2026
Gouache cut-outs and oil
200 × 160 cm
Never painted.
Commissioned for the collection, 2026.
PAB 2026.16.1
A balcony in cut paper: pots of monstera and lemon, a striped deckchair, a coral railing, a washing line of towels and shirts against the blue, and a blue cat sitting at the bottom as if it owned the place, which it does. Pins still show where the shapes were fixed. Matisse spent his last years making gardens he could no longer walk in. This one is a metre deep.
The brief
A small balcony crowded with potted plants in bold cut-paper shapes, a folding chair, a laundry line, blue sky, coral railing. Mid-century paper cut-out composition, bold flat shapes of saturated gouache-painted paper in blue, coral, green and yellow pinned on a white ground, organic leaf and figure silhouettes, joyful simplicity, visible cut edges and pin marks, decorative rhythm, no shading. Museum photograph of the cut-paper work on white, flat even lighting, no frame, no text, no wall, no floor, cropped to the canvas edge.
Written to the house rules. The painter's name does not appear.
Take it home
The painting on this room's wall, at its own proportions, nothing written on it.
