Henri Matisse - Alex Katz. Le silence de la peinture

Curated by Aymeric Jeudy, director of the Musée Matisse Nice and associate researcher at the Centre for the Modern and Contemporary Mediterranean (University of Nice Côte d’Azur).

The encounter between Henri Matisse and Alex Katz forms part of a vast cultural history linking France and the United States. Henri Matisse’s work was exhibited across the Atlantic from 1908 onwards and played a part in introducing the American public to the most avant-garde developments in European art.

In February 1949, Alex Katz came across an exhibition at Pierre Matisse’s gallery in New York, which was dedicated to his father’s recent works. The paintings known as the Intérieurs de Vence, along with the brush drawings and cut-outs, had a profound aesthetic impact on the young artist, who was then a student at the Cooper Union in Manhattan.

Alex Katz, a painter of everyday American life, has been studying the work of the French master ever since. The idea for the exhibition arose following his encounter with the museum's collections in 2024 and the fruitful dialogue that ensued. Designed in collaboration with the artist himself, the show offers a new display of the museum's collections, in which his works resonate with those of Matisse.

Thanks to its broad chronological scope, the exhibition offers visitors the chance to explore Alex Katz’s body of work, from his earliest pieces (Nude, 1951) to his most recent works (Lilies 13, 2025). Paintings, drawings, collages and prints from the artist’s studio invite the public to revisit the museum’s collections—which themselves originate from Matisse’s studio—through a contemporary lens, and highlight the enduring relevance of his work.

More information: Musée Matisse