Overview
The new exhibition project designed for the Centro Culturale Candiani drawn from the civic collections of modern art housed at Ca’ Pesaro and enriched by prestigious international loans, is dedicated to another master of 20th-century avant-garde: Henri Matisse (Le Cateau-Cambrésis, 1869 – Nice, 1954).
Master and pioneer of the Fauves—wild beasts or savages—Matisse is presented in the exhibition in dialogue with artists who shared his biographical experiences and artistic revolutions. He is celebrated as a painter of the joy of living and profound emotions, translated into bold, vibrant, and unnatural colors. Above all, he was an interpreter of light, the focus of his artistic exploration, along with fellow artists who sought to capture the dazzling beauty of the Mediterranean Sea, the Midi, or southern France. This region, both a physical and creative space, became the true protagonist of color liberated by wild Expressionism.
Light and color are therefore at the heart of the exhibition, alongside Matisse’s near-obsessive focus on drawing. Over fifty works are on display, starting from the valuable graphic collections of the International Gallery of Modern Art, alongside masterpieces from institutions such as the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Národní Galerie in Prague, the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Bordeaux and Nancy, the Centre Pompidou in Paris, the Musée Albert-André in Bagnols-sur-Cèze, and the Museo del Novecento in Milan.
The exhibition is organized into seven sections exploring themes like *Modernity Comes from the Sea*, *The Light of the Mediterranean*, *The Golden Age*, and *The Mediterranean, a Unique Paradise*, complemented by reflections on decorative and ornamental elements, the allure of Moorish lines, and the languid female figures portrayed as odalisques in *Arabesque and Decoration*. The culmination of these explorations is the perfect synthesis of *Luxury, Calm, and Voluptuousness* and the "drawing of pleasure," as described by philosopher Jean-Luc Nancy.
This naturally creates a dialogue with various authors who worked on the inner qualities of painting, pursuing poetic expression: Henri Manguin, André Derain, Albert Marquet, Maurice de Vlaminck, Raoul Dufy, and Pierre Bonnard. Distinct yet interconnected artistic approaches form a cohesive narrative, from the friendship between Derain and Matisse during their summer 1905 journey along the French Mediterranean coast to the central role of iconic locations like Nice, Arles, and Saint-Tropez—now symbols of 20th-century art and culture.
