Details
The image
A window opening onto a bright exterior, the interior reduced to a few flat shapes, the view outside suggested by bands of colour rather than by detail. The composition is frontal and calm and the light comes from inside the palette rather than from a painted source.
Where it comes from
Matisse worked in Nice for years and painted the same rooms and windows repeatedly, using them as a structure rather than as a subject: the frame within the frame, the interior against the exterior. His cut-out method later removed the brush altogether and the posters that reproduce this work inherit both habits, flat colour and an arrangement that looks effortless.
On the wall
It brings warmth and daylight into a room, so it suits a living room, a bedroom or a hallway with pale walls. Because the composition is simple and the colour is strong, it holds a large wall without adding clutter. In a group it should be the piece that lifts the palette.
In company
If the wall is to hold another sheet, the rest of the Matisse collection follows the same rules.Avoid hanging it beside heavy, dark work, the light in the picture would be swallowed.
