Gaby
This piece by French artist Henri Matisse, one of the most prominent figures of the Fauvism movement, was first displayed in 1961 at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. The artist depicted a sailboat and its reflection on the water.
Initially, even the most seasoned admirers of Matisse’s work struggled to agree on what exactly was portrayed in the painting. A curious incident occurred: museum staff, unsure of which way was up, hung the painting upside down! It remained in that position for forty-seven days, during which approximately 116,000 people passed by it.
The gallery hung the painting on October 17, and it wasn’t until December 3 that Geneviève Aber, a stock exchange worker with a passion for art, noticed the mistake. She alerted the guards, but, as is often the case with security personnel, they didn’t respond. Undeterred, she wrote to a newspaper, and journalists subsequently informed the museum’s management.
At first glance, the image in the painting appears completely symmetrical. However, upon closer inspection, an attentive viewer can notice that the left end of the boat is slightly raised. More precisely, it’s the sail that is elevated, as the depiction is quite schematic. This raised end is absent in the boat’s reflection on the water.
The artist created the clouds and horizon using lines of pink, surrounding the sailboat and its reflection.
Photoportrait of Henri Matisse (Carl Van Vechten. Library of Congress)
French painter Matisse was a vivid representative of the Fauves, who valued color above all in their works, while the content was considered secondary. The paintings of this movement were known for their simplicity, with color patches serving as the main “characters.” Critics were not receptive to Matisse’s innovations; for instance, contemporary art critic Camille Mauclair expressed outrage over the works of the Fauves, stating, “This is not art; it’s just a pot of paint spilled on canvases!”
