Geraniums

Potted red geraniums appear frequently in Matisse’s paintings from the first decade of the twentieth century. This scene plays with the concept of mimetic representation by juxtaposing real flowers with printed ones in the wallpaper behind, and painted ones in the plate under the pot. Matisse further complicates his proposition by including four dark-blue petals in the foreground, which appear to be from an entirely different plant. He also destabilizes the entire scene by rendering the sloping foreground as flatly as the wallpapered wall. Just as he had done in the other still life hanging nearby, Matisse changed the main colors of the background as he worked. Initially, the top half of the composition was predominantly pink and the bottom was green, but after exploring other combinations, Matisse, a master colorist, repainted them in blue and ochre.