In the final years of his life, after undergoing surgery for cancer, Henri Matisse used a wheelchair and was no longer able to paint with oil on canvas. Adapting to these changes, he turned to a new medium: cut paper, which he called “painting with scissors.” He adopted a philosophical stance toward his illness, once stating that “My terrible operation has completely rejuvenated and made a philosopher of me. I had so completely prepared for my exit from life that it seems to me that I am in a second life.” Just as he began a new life, he began a new chapter of his artistic journey using different materials and techniques.
Apollo is one of the vibrant compositions he created during this late period, characterized by bold color and simplified form. Matisse first assembled the design using cut and painted paper, a technique he developed in his later years, which was then translated into a large-scale ceramic mural with the help of studio assistants and ceramicist J. L. Artigas. Many visitors recognize Apollo as the colorful work that greets them upon entering the museum, but fewer may know that it reflects a chapter of Matisse’s life shaped by physical disability. Rather than stepping away from art, he reinvented his process, showing that change can ignite creativity and discovering a new avenue for art and self-expression.
Henri Matisse (French, 1869–1954), Apollo. Ceramic tile in plaster with ground marble, 1953. 131 1/2 × 167 1/2 in. (334 × 425.4 cm). Purchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey, 1983.40. On view in Tillotson-Fallis Court, near the staircases to the upper level.
Image Description: Apollo features a symmetrical composition made with bold shapes cut from slabs of clay. Blue columns border the left and right edges. At the center is a serene, mask-like face framed by a fan-shaped blue-and-yellow headdress and two vertical yellow panels with stylized blue plants. At the bottom center, a blue-and-yellow tree-like form rises about halfway to the mask. Bright, abstract floral shapes in red, green, blue, and yellow fill the lower half of the composition, creating a lively, garden-like effect.
