Matisse - Derain. Collioure 1905.
18 June 2005 - 22 January 2006

The museums of the Departments of Serre and Cateau-Cambresie are celebrating the 100th anniversary of Fauvism as well as the voyages of Matisse and Derain to Collioure in 1905. The research work carried out in preparation for the exhibition has made it possible to offer visitors information about the splendid adventure of these two artists. The exhibition takes place in Serre from 18 June to 2 October 2005 and then moves to Cateau-Cambresie from 22 October 2005 to 22 January 2006.

Ģątisse arrived in the small Catalan port of Collioure on 16 May 1905, planning to spend the summer there. He later wrote: "while working amidst this delightful landscape, I thought only about how to compel my colors to sing without being bound to observe the usual rules and prohibitions." Soon afterwards Matisse invited Derain to Collioure and he arrived on 5 July. A close friendship was formed between them and this gave rise to a close artistic collaboration.

The exhibition is an attempt to bring together works by both artists which were created in Collioure or begun there and finished in Paris. It demonstrates their collaboration in solving questions of pure color to express animated feelings. Color is treated as an element for constructing the painting and it liberates the painting from the subject. Besides paintings in oils, the exhibition also presents drawings, water colors, and sculptural studies. We also are shown meetings of the two masters with Maillot and other painters, sculptors, and art patrons, as well as the exchange of correspondence with their artist friends.

The exhibition represents an attempt to analyze this short period in detail. It shows the works Matisse painted during his stay in Collioure and on other visits from the end of May, 1906 to the end of August, 1907 and from late August-early September 1911 to 13 October, when he was with his model Olga Mersen and with the German artist Hans Purman, as well as during the autumn of 1914, when he met Juan Gris. These works were never before brought together and exhibited in one place.

Moreover, the exhibition gives visitors a unique opportunity to see paintings near the landscapes which they depicted. When we compare the paintings with photographs from that period, we see how important the motifs and landscapes of Collioure were to the artists and this enables us to understand the history of their creation.

This exhibition was organized with the help of the Matisse Heritage Foundation and also a multitude of private collectors and museums around France and in other countries. The State Hermitage has loaned to the exhibition two Matisse paintings dating back to the opening years of the 20th century: View of Collioure (circa 1905) and Woman on a Terrace (circa 1907).

View of Collioure
Circa 1905
Larger view

Woman on a Terrace
Circa 1907
Larger view