French Paintings 1890–1950

On View: East Building, Ground Level

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60 artworks on view.

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A nude woman shown from the chest up is painted entirely in tones of gray and black in this vertical portrait. Her face is turned slightly to our left, and she looks off in that direction under thin, dark brows. She has large, almond-shaped eyes, a long, straight nose, and her full lips are closed. A cloud of dark hair frames her oval face and brushes her shoulders. Her shoulders, upper arms, breasts, and nipples are simply outlined and lightly shaded, and the background is mottled with gray. The artist signed the top left corner, “Picasso.”

Dora Maar

Pablo Picasso

1941

Oil on linen  Accession ID  1963.10.193

On View: East Building Ground Level, Gallery E103
This painting shows the upper body of a person who faces us, holding a small stringed instrument near their chest. They have a long face with pale skin, a round chin, high cheekbones, and deep-set eyes. Their expression is neutral as they appear to stare outward. They have short dark hair, partially covered by a large, pointed hat that extends out to each side past their ears. The person is wearing a colorful diamond-patterned outfit with a large white collar, the diamonds in shades of red, yellow, green, and black. The background consists of earthy brown tones, with a wall on the right and what may be brown stairs or a piece of furniture on the left.

Harlequin

André Derain

1919

Oil on canvas  Accession ID  1963.10.129

On View: East Building Ground Level, Gallery E103
This painting depicts a partially nude woman from the waist up. She is seated, facing us, wearing a bright blue headscarf that conceals her hair. There is a small black cross on her forehead. The woman has pale skin, dark eyes, and a neutral expression, and she wears with a necklace of round yellow ornaments. Her chest is bare, but a green fabric is wrapped around her waist. Her hands are clasped in her lap. The chair she sits on has yellow and olive-green stripes, and the wall behind her is tan, with red, leaf-patterned drapery on the right side.

Odalisque, Half-Length--The Tattoo

Henri Matisse

1923

Oil on canvas  Accession ID  1963.10.40

On View: East Building Ground Level, Gallery E103
A woman wearing a pale blue and gray patterned top and turquoise skirt stretches out in an armchair in this stylized, almost square painting. The scene is loosely painted with areas of mostly flat color, especially in the background, so some details are difficult to make out. The woman is centered in the composition, and her legs stretch to our left. She has upswept dark brown hair, peach-colored skin, and her eyes, nose, and mouth are drawn with dark gray lines. Her blousy top is vertically patterned with lead-gray leaves down the front and elongated dots on the sleeves. Each sleeve also has a carrot-orange band on the upper arm. Her skirt is spearmint green, and she wears bone-white pumps. She sits in a canary-yellow armchair with red down the front of the arms and along the bottom, where the wood frame would be. One foot stretches to rest on a matching footstool, while her other leg is curled under her. The denim-blue floor tilts toward us and is covered with thin white lines in a chevron pattern. In the lower right is a red table with a bright yellow vase covered with swipes of brown and green. The vase is filled with elongated, abstract mauve-pink and mint-green shapes on slender white stems. The back wall of the room has an aqua-green cabinet to our left, which holds a silver urn and dishes of round objects. There is also a cantaloupe-orange footstool and other pieces of small furniture there, below paintings on the white wall. Above the woman is a white door with panels outlined in gray, and a section of black wall to our right has more paintings. The artist signed and dated the lower right, “Henri Matisse 40.”

Woman Seated in an Armchair

Henri Matisse

1940

Oil on canvas  Accession ID  1989.31.1

On View: East Building Ground Level, Gallery E103
We look down onto papers and books piled on a small wooden table with delicate, spindle legs, with a dog and cat on a sofa in the background in this vibrantly colored, stylized, vertical painting. The scene is loosely painted with dabs and visible brushstrokes in butterscotch and golden yellow, azure and navy blue, apple red, and white. The square table takes up most of the bottom two-thirds of the composition. Its surface is almost entirely covered with a spread of papers and stacks of books, including two thick, white volumes near the front, right corner and a thin red book on the other front corner. Smaller squares between the books are painted with streaks and washes of turquoise blue, scarlet, and brick red. A tall, narrow vase with abstracted, ice-blue flowers sits behind the stacked books, to our right. Beyond that, at the back right corner of the table, a sheet of paper reads “ALBUM MUSICAL,” with the final L partially obscured by a piece of bubblegum-pink paper set askew atop the stacked books. The artist’s name appears in rust-red letters on a paper at the back left corner of the table: “Bonnard.” The rug beneath the table is dominated by a vivid, azure-blue ring. The blue ring is surrounded by a white band decorated with widely spaced, black ovals dotted with pale lemon yellow. At the center of the blue ring is a black circle dotted with abstracted rosettes made with rings of apricot orange and gray around yellow centers. At the back edge of the rug, at the top left corner of the painting, a white cat sits and brown spotted dog lies on a mustard-yellow sofa, which has a wooden arm on the end we can see. There is a tangerine-orange chair next to it, in the upper right corner of the painting, and a teal-blue block there could be a pillow. The floor between the furniture is goldenrod yellow.

Work Table

Pierre Bonnard

1926/1937

Oil on canvas  Accession ID  2006.128.12

On View: East Building Ground Level, Gallery E103
Painted with wide strokes in almost geometric areas of mottled color, a woman wearing a long black dress stands at the side of a table in this stylized, vertical composition. The table stretches two-thirds of the way across the painting from the right edge, and the woman stands at the left side so her lower body is partially behind the table. Her copper-brown hair appears to be pulled up, and her face is painted as a peach-colored profile but without features. Her hands rest on the table near a white plate holding six yellow orbs, presumably fruit. To the right of the plate is a light brown object lined with orange along its left side, but this form is difficult to interpret because the painting is done in such a broad style. Along the left edge of the painting, a dark, pecan-brown door opens next to a rectangular object, probably a clock, on the beige-colored wall behind the woman and table. The floor is a shade between dusky green and brown. The left edge of the cardboard on which this is painted appears streaked, perhaps lightly or incompletely filled in. The artist signed the lower left corner, “E. Vuillard.

Woman in Black

Edouard Vuillard

c. 1891

Oil on cardboard  Accession ID  1970.17.93

On View: East Building Ground Level, Gallery E103
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This painting shows a partial view of a dark wooden mantle. The mantle itself takes up the bottom right corner of the painting, and we see one side of it, but not the other. On its left corner, there is a vase of pink flowers, which stands at the center of the painting. Behind the vase, on top of the mantle, is a large silvery mirror in a golden frame. The mirror reflects gray walls and indistinct rectangles of black, gray, and brown. In the bottom left corner, there is a patterned brown and white object, perhaps furniture or draped fabric. The wall on the left of the mantle and the mirror is a cream color. In some areas of the painting, the reddish-brown material beneath the paint is visible.

Vase of Flowers on a Mantelpiece

Edouard Vuillard

c. 1900

Oil on cardboard  Accession ID  1970.17.99

On View: East Building Ground Level, Gallery E103
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This painting shows a person seated in a side profile view, facing the left with their back resting against a brownish-red chair. Their facial features are indistinct, and they have pale skin and dark hair styled in a simple bun. The clothing features a dark blue and yellow plaid pattern. The background comprises a textured wall in shades of cream and beige with thin lines of red. There is a dark vertical structure on the left, perhaps a piece of furniture. The brushstrokes are thick and visible against a textured surface.

Woman Sitting by the Fireside

Edouard Vuillard

c. 1894

Oil on cardboard  Accession ID  1970.17.96

On View: East Building Ground Level, Gallery E103
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This painting is a portrait of a person facing away from us, with their face turned to the left, over one shoulder. We see their face in profile. The individual has pale skin, pink lips, and dark eyes that look slightly downward. They have black hair adorned with small white dots on one side, and the rest of their hair blends into the dark background. They have a strip of pink and green cloth over their shoulder that may be part of a garment, but the rest of their skin is bare. A small white bird hovers in the air next to them, one wing partially outstretched and its head facing the person’s shoulder. The background is a blend of gray and black tones that are lighter on the left side and darker on the right.

Girl with a Dove

Marie Laurencin

1928

Oil on linen  Accession ID  1963.10.35

On View: East Building Ground Level, Gallery E103
Shown from the chest up, a woman with a pale, peachy skin wears a turban and a goldenrod-yellow jacket in this stylized, vertical portrait painting. Many of the features and forms are outlined in gray and filled in with areas of mottled color so brushstrokes are visible. The woman’s shoulders face us, and she tips her head a little to our right. One brown eye, to our left, seems to look at us, and the other might look off over our right shoulder. Her nose is indicated with a wavy line for a pointed tip, and her small pink lips are closed. She has a square jaw and a narrow chin. Black hair curls over her ears. The rest of her hair is covered by a turban, which touches the top edge of the composition and is pale pink to our left and ivory white to our right. Her yellow garment is fastened at her throat and has rows of darker gold circles, perhaps buttons or other trim, down the open front over a white shirt. The papaya-orange corners of a square-backed chair is behind her shoulders, about halfway up the picture. The background is streaked with laurel green, flax, and lemonade yellow to our left, and deepens to dark, pewter gray to our right. The artist signed and dated the painting with olive-green script in the upper left corner: “Henri-Matisse 1917.”

Lorette with Turban, Yellow Jacket

Henri Matisse

1917

Oil on wood  Accession ID  1963.10.39

On View: East Building Ground Level, Gallery E103
This painting displays soft, rounded shapes and fragmented lines, creating an abstract portrayal of two people seated at a dark yellow table. The round table is in the center, while the two people are on the left, their faces and bodies suggested with small dots of tan and light brown paint. The rough, brown surface under the paint has been allowed to show through in many places. On the table, white circular shapes resemble a cup and saucer, as well as a plate and bowl. The right side of the table has a light brown cloth draped over it, decorated with bright splashes. Behind the table and the people is a greenish-blue wall with a white door in the upper right corner.

Two Women Drinking Coffee

Edouard Vuillard

c. 1893

Oil on cardboard  Accession ID  1970.17.94

On View: East Building Ground Level, Gallery E103
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This painting shows a person seated at a table in a bright yellow chair, facing the right. The person has pale skin and gray hair, and they are wearing a loose-fitting light brown garment, similar to a long coat or dress. On the table in front of them appear to be various indistinct objects in shades of white and red. The background has a dark green area on the right which may be a wall or curtain, with a lighter area on the left that maybe be a window or door. The floor is painted in shades of brown and beige. The brushstrokes in the painting are thick and visible, making the scene appear blurred.

Breakfast

Edouard Vuillard

1894

Oil on cardboard  Accession ID  1970.17.97

On View: East Building Ground Level, Gallery E103
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