Matisse: The Cut-Outs – Tate Modern

2014_0601Matisse

I got up early on Sunday to visit the Matisse: The Cut-Outs exhibition at Tate Modern. I’d booked my ticket in advance for the earliest possible time, hoping for a less crowded experience, but unfortunately it was still pretty busy. A worthwhile experience, though.

As the title suggests, the exhibition covers Matisse’s cut-outs, which he began to create towards the end of his life as ill health meant that he became unable to work and paint in his usual way. I think there’s something really inspiring about an artist driven to create by any means possible, overcoming obstacles to continue making work, and the cut-outs aren’t the childish simple pictures I’d wondered they might be. The images are deceptively simple and show how Matisse used colour and shapes in a creative and original way. My favourite pictures were the famous snail and the carnival images, especially the horse.