Magnet#512 - Matisse's Nuit de Noël, 1952I bought this magnet from my second favorite magnet vendor here in town. She has a great little stand just down the block from the Met, and I can never resist buying a magnet or two (or three) from here.
When I started writing this post, I couldn't remember who she said painted it, so I started searching the interwebs.
...almost two hours later...
At first, I thought it was Chagall. But, I got distracted by the awesome body of Chagall's work. I honestly couldn't tell you if I've ever seen a Chagall window. Now, I totally want to go see Chagall's 12 Tribes of Israel windows in Jerusalem.
They're absolutely beautiful. And, after this post, I'm totally gonna go look up where his closest windows are here in town.
My next thought was Picasso, but, it really didn't look a thing like his work.
But, as you look at it, you slowly realize whose work it is. Matisse, because the stars and the squiggles do kinda look Matisse-y. In the end, I was right, thanks to this person's Reverse Engineering Matisse blogpost.
And here's where burned most of the last hour...I started to hunt the painting down, to see whose wall it's hanging on and in what country. From what I've pieced together, Nuit de Noël is apparently a design that he did, supposedly a study for a stained-glass window that he designed in the Hotel Regina in Nice-Cimiez, in France, where Matisse lived/worked for a while.
Nice-Cimiez is also home to the Matisse Museum. But, a quick spin through its collection didn't yield this piece. Sigh. And, looks like Hotel Regina is now a residential building, so who knows where this piece (or the window) is now.
No, seriously.
Who knows?
I would love to hear from anyone about this Matisse piece....
*“When I put colors together, they have to join a living chord, like a musical chord or harmony.”
- Matisse
eta, a week later:
So I stumbled upon the nearest Chagall here in town! It's this window at the United Nations, dedicated to Dag Hammarskjold. Random. But, awesome.
So I stumbled upon the nearest Chagall here in town! It's this window at the United Nations, dedicated to Dag Hammarskjold. Random. But, awesome.
7 comments:
I love this piece. I think I was with you when you bought it. Are we sure the window was actually made? I thought this was one of those that he did when he was very old and it was never actually made into a window?
Yep. You were with me...and no, I'm not sure at all if it was actually made...couldn't find any information on it.
Looks like the Matisse books will be my next stop when I go back to the Met. Heh.
it took you 2 hours to figure out it was matisse? see... that's how the interwebs suck you in. i think the stars would've tipped me off... definitely wouldn't have gone in a picasso path.
EW. ps. i HATE that google now has me listed as Julie and Gordon!! >:| because of that silly wedding blog.
Yeah, I should have known it was Matisse all along...but for some reason, I had Chagall windows in my head.
It didn't take 2 hours just to find out, it took 2 hours to find out, get distracted, dig around, get distracted, find out more, get distracted, post, get distracted, etc. get distracted, etc. Heh.
Also. Hahahah, Julie and Gordon. That's very sweet.
I love this piece! Joy... in answer to your question I don't collect but "we" collect. Our family buys a magnet from places we visit
Thanks, TMF! I wondered...if I could make my own magnets (other than the few I've jimmied together), I wouldn't actually have a place to sit. Heh.
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