Fondation Beyerle Basel:

In autumn 2024, the Fondation Beyeler in Riehen/Basel will hold the first Henri Matisse retrospective in Switzerland and the German-speaking world in almost 20 years. Featuring around 80 works from major European and American museums and private collections, the exhibition will highlight the development and diversity of the artist’s groundbreaking oeuvre. It will take as its starting point Charles Baudelaire’s poem «Invitation to the Voyage» (1857). Many motifs and key themes of Matisse’s work echo those found in Baudelaire’s poem. The latest in a long line of unparalleled exhibitions such as «Paul Gauguin» (2015), «Monet» (2017) and «The Young Picasso – Blue and Rose Periods» (2019), «Matisse» will be on view at the Fondation Beyeler from 22 September 2024 to 26 January 2025. Henri Matisse (1869–1954) ranks among the most famous exponents of modern art. His ground-breaking work has profoundly influenced generations of artists, from his contemporaries up to the present day. In freeing colour from the motif and simplifying forms, he redefined painting and imbued art with a hitherto unknown lightness. Matisse was also an innovator in the realm of sculpture, and in his late cut-outs he devised a distinctive interplay of painting, drawing and sculpture. The exhibition takes as its starting point Charles Baudelaire’s poem Invitation to the Voyage (1857), which Matisse repeatedly referred to. Its poetic leitmotifs of luxury, peace and pleasure («luxe, calme et volupté») are guiding principles of Matisse’s work and capture the very essence of his artistic output. Following Baudelaire’s poem, the exhibition at the Fondation Beyeler is thus conceived as a journey through Matisse’s work and life, in which travel played an important part.