This color lithograph is after a paper cut-out and gouache, 1943. The print was produced under Matisse's supervision for a special issue of Verve entitled "Couleur de Matisse." The issue, published in 1945, was dedicated to Matisse's use of color. This work, "The Fall of Icarus," is one of Matisse's most sought-after prints.

The print is beautifully framed, floated in an antiqued, gilded wood frame.

Known for his use of color and original form, Matisse was recognized as a leader of the French group of artists known as the Fauves. Fauvist paintings expressed emotion with wild, often dissonant colors, without regard for the subjects' natural coloring. Other members included Georges Braque, Raoul Dufy and Maurice de Vlaminck. The Symbolist painter and Ecole des Beaux-Arts professor Gustave Moreau was the movements' inspirational teacher. Matisse mastered the expressive language of color and drawing, creating work characterized by flat shapes and controlled lines over half a century. Around 1904, at the Paris salon of Gertrude Stein, he met Pablo Picasso, who became his life-long friend and rival. Though they are often compared, while Matisse drew and painted from nature, Picasso was much more inclined to work from imagination. Although the subjects they painted were frequently similar, women and still life, Matisse was more likely to place his figures in fully realized interiors. Later, in 1917, Matisse’s work began to show a relaxation and softening of his approach and by 1930 a more severe simplification of forms appears in his work. Today, the Baltimore Museum of Art holds the largest collection of Matisse’s works.

Selected Public Collections:
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (New York, NY)
The Museum of Modern Art (New York, NY)
National Gallery of Art (Washington, D.C.)
Musee Matisse, Le Cateau-Cambresis (France)
Hermitage Museum (Saint Petersburg, Russia)
The Barnes Foundation (Philadelphia, PA)
Tate Gallery (London, UK)