In the autumn of 1917 Matisse settled in Nice where he would reside for the rest of his life, returning to Paris only in the summer months to avoid the heat of the south. The present work is an early example from Matisse’s Nice period. It is one of the first pictures he painted after moving from the Hôtel Beau-Rivage, where he painted The Violinist at the Window (Centre Pompidou, Paris) to the Villa des Alliés on Mont Boron in the spring of 1918. La Villa Bleue, so called from the blue tiled roof, could be seen from Matisse’s house across the Paillon valley. He painted it several times in 1918 and the series appear to represent Matisse’s exploration of his new surroundings. One version is in the Barnes Foundation, Pennsylvannia, and another, Grand paysage, Montalban, was exhibited in Henri Matisse: Exposition du centenaire, at the Grand Palais, 1970 (no. 157) and is now in a private collection. Matisse wrote of these works to his friend and fellow artist Camoin later that year:

How did you like my little landscapes at Bernheim’s [Bernheim-Jeune gallery]? Did [Félix] Fénéon seem pleased with them? These little things are a diversion for me, a manner of relaxation. I tried as I’m sure you saw to play around with the lie of the land. I only use cadmium and vermilion accidentally these days.

Blue Villa, 1918. The Barnes Foundation
©2011 Succession H. Matisse / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Image © 2012 The Barnes Foundation

Though Matisse’s style changes during his Nice period his artistic objective is the same, to discover ‘the essential character of things’ and to produce an art ‘of balance, purity, and serenity,’ as he himself had previously written in Notes of a Painter in 1908. A comparison between our painting and the Barnes version is instructive. Here compositional tightness and a classical formalism are achieved by removing the steps of the villa seen in the Barnes version and changing the direction of the archway at the front of the house. Each element has been pared down to its most basic form, including the hills of the background which have been levelled out (perhaps the playing with ‘the lie of the land’ referred to in the letter above). As a whole, the structural simplicity of this version makes for a harmony which probably relates to Matisse’s change of lifestyle from Paris to Provence.

Further, the image has a graphic intensity which incorporates the abstract qualities Matisse first developed between 1900 and 1910. The trees framing either side of the composition have the decorative, serpentine design of earlier works such as Bonheur de Vie of 1905-6 in The Barnes Foundation, and Harmony in Red of 1908 in The Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg.

This painting is accompanied by a photo-certificate of authenticity issued by Madame Wanda de Guébriant, dated Paris, 2^nd November 1987, and is recorded as no.PX 290 in the artist’s archives. Wanda de Guébriant confirmed, in a letter to Christie’s, London, dated 10 February 1987,that this painting was sold by the artist to Galerie Bernheim-Jeune in June 1918 and then sold to their affiliated company  in Lausanne in December 1919.