The founding donation of 1953
On 21 October 1953, Henri Matisse donated eight major works to the City of Nice: the painting Nature morte aux grenades (1947), four drawings from the series Thèmes et Variations (1941-1942), the cut-out Danseuse créole (1950), and the two serigraphs Océanie, la mer and Océanie, le ciel (1947).
When the museum opened in 1963, these prestigious works represented the core of the collection, which was further enriched by legacies and donations from the painter’s family.
Photo © François Fernandez
Archives Musée Matisse Nice
Archives Musée Matisse Nice
The second donation in 1960
On 4 August 1960, the heirs completed Mrs Henri Matisse’s verbal legacy of more than two hundred works and items, including twenty paintings illustrating the main stages of Matisse’s work, from his apprenticeship years (Nature morte aux livres (1890), until the time of his Interiors of Vence (Lectrice à la table jaune (1944).
Added to this were five sculptures, including Le Serf (Paris, 1900-1903), 80 drawings and one of the last large cut-outs Fleurs et fruits (1952-1953), as well as 109 items and furniture that belonged to the artist.
On 30 September 1960, the artist’s heirs, his daughter, Marguerite Duthuit, and his sons, Jean and Pierre, in turn made a donation, including in particular drawings around the Chapelle du Rosaire de Vence and studies for La Danse from the Barnes Foundation, which they complemented, three years later, on 28 October 1963, with six paintings, including Portrait de Madame Matisse (1905), two cut-outs, Les Abeilles (1948) and La Vague (1952), 126 engravings, seven illustrated books as well as items that belonged to the painter.
Photo © François Fernandez
The third donation in 1978
Archives Musée Matisse Nice
In addition to these founding donations, in October 1978, Jean Matisse donated to the State, on deposit at the musée Matisse, 57 sculptures, i.e. almost all of the painter’s sculpted work, and masterpieces such as Nymphe dans la forêt (La Verdure) (1935-1943), Nu bleu IV (1952), Baigneuse dans les roseaux (1952).
Other donations
1987
- Pierre Matisse further enriched the collection with a large drawing, a study for Saint Dominique in the Chapelle de Vence, made directly on the wall of Matisse’s apartment-studio at the Régina, removed and mounted on canvas.
- Gérard Matisse, the artist’s grandson, offered a life-size hand-drawn sketch for the central character of La Danse for the Barnes Foundation.
1993
- Following Pierre Matisse’s donation to the Centre Georges Pompidou, four works were placed on deposit at the musée Matisse in Nice. These were the cut-outs Femme à l’amphore (1953), a charcoal study for the door of the confessional of the Chapelle du Rosaire de Vence (1950) and two bronzes, Jaguar dévorant un lièvre d’après Barye (1899-1901) and Nu Assis, bras derrière le dos (1909).
2003
- Deposit of graphic works at the museum by Claude and Barbara Duthuit.
2006
- Three drawings from the Pierre and Maria Gaetana Matisse collection joined the museum’s collections: Académie, nu de femme (1900), Vase de fleurs (1928), Visage, main devant la bouche (1951).
2010-2011
- Donation by Mrs Pierre-Noël Matisse of fabrics and outfits.
- Hand-to-hand gift by Mrs Jacqueline Matisse-Monnier of lithographs and studio engravings.
- The Pierre and Maria Gaetana Matisse Foundation’s deposit of furniture.
- Claude and Barbara Duthuit consented to the City of Nice, for the benefit of the musée Matisse, the donation of the monumental ceramic La Piscine, based on the cut-out of 1952 kept at the MoMA in New York.
- Gilberte Brassaï bequeathed 68 photographs by her husband Brassaï, a book, a sculpture, five drawings.
- Jean-Louis Boucher, son of photographer Pierre Boucher, donated to the museum a portrait of Matisse photographed in the workshops of Mourlot, master lithographer-printer, by Ina Bandy.
2012
- The painter’s family granted the donation of a set of more than 400 cut-out elements not used in his works by the artist.
2025
- Barbara Duthuit granted the donation of the painting Nature morte à la statuette africaine.
Acquisitions
In 1963, the City of Nice acquired a study model for the paving of the Chapelle de Vence, in 2002 and 2003 a set of thirteen lithographs, in 2005 the stages of completion of the Nice, travail et joie poster (1949).
In 2001, the New Association of Friends of the musée Matisse in Nice acquired a lithograph Étude pour la Vierge “Visage” (1950-1951), and two posters, Maternité (1951) and Danseuse créole (1965) for the benefit of the museum in 2005.