Les Quatre Rosaces aux motifs bleus [The Four Rosettes with blue motifs]

Matisse initially started making paper cut-outs as a form of maquette or model for larger decorative commissions. In later life they became a way of exploring the images he wanted for paintings, but which he now struggled to create because of ill health. By the mid-1940s, when Four Rose Windows was made, they had become a central focus of his work, bringing form down to its absolute essential. The work may be a preparatory design for a book cover, possibly for the Chapel of the Rosary at Vence on the French Riviera, where he also designed the stained glass windows.

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