The Snail
Encyclopedia
The Snail is a collage by Henri Matisse
,
The work was created at the Hotel Regina in Cimiez
, Nice
in the summer 1952 to early 1953. It is pigmented with gouache
on paper, cut and pasted, onto a base layer of white paper, 9'4" × 9' 5" (287 × 288 cm) collection Tate Gallery
, London
.
It consists of a number of colored shapes which look nothing like a snail, arranged in a spiral pattern, as suggested by the title. From the early to mid-1940s Matisse was in increasingly poor health, and was suffering from arthritis. Eventually by 1950 he stopped painting in favor of his paper cutouts. The Snail, is a major example of Matisse's final body of works known as the cutouts.
Henri Matisse
Henri Matisse was a French artist, known for his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a draughtsman, printmaker, and sculptor, but is known primarily as a painter...
,
The work was created at the Hotel Regina in Cimiez
Cimiez
Cimiez is a neighborhood in Nice, southern France. The area contains the Musée Matisse and the ruins of Cemenelum, capital of the Ancient Roman province Alpes Maritimae on the Ligurian coast...
, Nice
Nice
Nice is the fifth most populous city in France, after Paris, Marseille, Lyon and Toulouse, with a population of 348,721 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Nice extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of more than 955,000 on an area of...
in the summer 1952 to early 1953. It is pigmented with gouache
Gouache
Gouache[p], also spelled guache, the name of which derives from the Italian guazzo, water paint, splash or bodycolor is a type of paint consisting of pigment suspended in water. A binding agent, usually gum arabic, is also present, just as in watercolor...
on paper, cut and pasted, onto a base layer of white paper, 9'4" × 9' 5" (287 × 288 cm) collection Tate Gallery
Tate Gallery
The Tate is an institution that houses the United Kingdom's national collection of British Art, and International Modern and Contemporary Art...
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
.
It consists of a number of colored shapes which look nothing like a snail, arranged in a spiral pattern, as suggested by the title. From the early to mid-1940s Matisse was in increasingly poor health, and was suffering from arthritis. Eventually by 1950 he stopped painting in favor of his paper cutouts. The Snail, is a major example of Matisse's final body of works known as the cutouts.