Composition

Although Matisse's title for this canvas accentuates its abstractness, notes taken during a 1931 interview with the artist indicate that it represents a view from a curtained window in the artist’s home in Issy-les-Moulineaux, including the blue glass canopy that covered the front door:

The curtain was red, the color of the yellow [represents its] lining and the pattern [was] added by the artist. The green frame of the window suggests the green of the trees outside and the cool contrast of the green of the trees and the blue sky necessitated the large mass of yellow which to the artist signifies the vibration and pleasure he derived from the contrast of trees and sky. It is not therefore a completely abstract picture but a picture which has its roots in reality.

While most of Matisse’s paintings of this period are extensively revised, this canvas returns to an earlier mode of working. As he had in some of his Moroccan paintings of 1912–13, the artist drew the composition then filled it in with color to produce a sense of freshness and immediacy.

Although Matisse’s title for this canvas accentuates its abstractness, notes taken during a 1931 interview with the artist indicate that it represents a view from a curtained window in the artist's home, including the blue glass canopy that covered the front door: "The curtain was red, the color of the yellow [represents its] lining and the pattern [was] added by the artist. The green frame of the window suggests the green of the trees outside and the cool contrast of the green of the trees and the blue sky necessitated the large mass of yellow which to the artist signifies the vibration and pleasure he derived from the contrast of trees and sky. It is not therefore a completely abstract picture but a picture which has its roots in reality."

Credit: Gift of Jo Carole and Ronald S. Lauder; Nelson A. Rockefeller Bequest, gift of Mr. and Mrs. William H. Weintraub, and Mary Sisler Bequest (all by exchange)