An artist paints his studio as a red surface. Only the paintings and sculptures depicted in the studio create a spatial impression. They lean and hang on red surfaces, small sculptures stand on stools recognizable only by outlines. In the exhibition Matisse: The Red Studio at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, the famous painting of the same name (1911) is shown − united with all the artworks on it. The last time this happened was over 110 years ago, when they were all still in Matisse's studio. This special presentation will run at MoMA from May 1 to September 10, then at the Statens Museum for Kunst in Copenhagen from October 13.
The exhibition is accompanied by extensive archival material. Letters, photographs, and exhibition views illuminate the history and content of the painting. Two of the works depicted are privately owned and are being exhibited for the first time in over 50 years. Only one of the works, destroyed many decades ago, is missing. Matisse turned a moment of his creation into a work of art in its own right, depicting space as two-dimensional and paintings as space-creating - an experimental concept of art that was far ahead of its time.
