In the manner of Henri Matisse
French, 1869–1954
Dancing in the Kitchen, 2026
Gouache cut-outs and oil
200 × 160 cm
Never painted.
Commissioned for the collection, 2026.
PAB 2026.16.3
Two figures, one coral and one blue, dance in a kitchen that exists only as a green table, a green chair, a bowl of salad and a yellow lamp. Their arms go up. The leaves go up with them. Matisse painted *Dance* as five red figures in a ring on a hill. Here it has come indoors, gone down to two, and is on its second glass.
The brief
Two simplified figures in cut coral and blue paper dancing in a kitchen indicated by a green table and a yellow lamp. 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.
