''The Boat'' (French: ''Le Bateau'') is a paper-cut from 1953 by

Henri Matisse Henri Émile Benoît Matisse (; 31 December 1869 – 3 November 1954) was a French visual arts, visual artist, known for both his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a drawing, draughtsman, printmaking, printmaker, ...

. The picture is composed from pieces of paper cut out of sheets painted with

gouache Gouache (; ), body color, or opaque watercolor is a water-medium paint consisting of natural pigment, water, a binding agent (usually gum arabic or dextrin), and sometimes additional inert material. Gouache is designed to be opaque. Gouach ...

, and was created during the last years of Matisse's life.

History

''Le Bateau'' caused a minor stir when the

Museum of Modern Art, New York The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, and includes over 200,000 works of arc ...

, which housed it, hung the work upside-down for 47 days in 1961 until Genevieve Habert, a stockbroker, noticed the mistake and notified a guard. Habert later informed ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', which in turn notified

Monroe Wheeler Monroe Wheeler (13 February 1899 – 14 August 1988) was an American publisher and museum coordinator whose relationship with the novelist and poet Glenway Wescott lasted from 1919 until Wescott's death in 1987. Biography Wheeler was born in Evan ...

, the museum's art director. As a result, the artwork was rehung properly. An assistant curator blamed the confusion on a label on the

verso ''Recto'' is the "right" or "front" side and ''verso'' is the "left" or "back" side when text is written or printed on a leaf of paper () in a bound item such as a codex, book, broadsheet, or pamphlet. In double-sided printing, each leaf h ...

posted the wrong way, as well as screw holes which implied it had been hung upside down before."MoMA Hung Matisse Gouache Painting Upside Down for 47 Days" ''Masterworks Fine Art'', September 19, 2018
/ref>

References

Paintings by Henri Matisse 1953 paintings Paintings in the Museum of Modern Art (New York City) Ships in art {{20C-painting-stub

History

See also

References