TOM WESSELMANN, AFTER MATISSE, IN NICE Until May 29

This year the Matisse Museum in Nice is celebrating its 60th anniversary! This eventful period will be marked by a number of concerts, conferences and meetings. But above all, four major exhibitions will be shedding a new light on the great Master’s legacy resting in peace not far from the museum, on the Cimiez hill.

This spring’s first highlight is around forty works by Tom Wesselmann. One of the most renowned representatives of “Pop Art”, he positions himself as first and foremost a designer, with an obvious admiration for the precursor of Fauvism.

“What struck me about Matisse was how his paintings were overtly and surprisingly beautiful and exciting. One cannot look at a Matisse without a feeling of a certain excitement”.

Orchestrated in four large ensembles, this first anniversary exhibition is a demonstration of how Wesselmann appropriated certain Matissian techniques. Starting with small formats, he ends up with vaster creations, mixing collage, drawing and painting. These four sections — the collages, the Great American Nudes, the

Steel Drawings and the Sunset Nudes — create a fascinating dialogue between the two artists.

From the first years following Matisse’s passing away, Wesselmann took a close interest in the Master’s works, back then already famous in the United States. He declares in particular: “I learned a lot from Matisse. I remember spending hours studying his reproductions. In our imaginary conversations I would invite him to explain why he painted every single element the way he did”.

Later on, in 2003, the artist comes up with his own nudes and large odalisques in a masterful “Sunset Nude with Matisse Odalisque”, transposed against a very famous, large-scale image of Matisse associ - ated with a still life and a sunset in the background. A culmination of his vibrant tribute indeed.

Tom Wesselmann. After Matisse Musée Matisse, 164, Avenue des Arènes de Cimiez de Nice