Pasiphaé, Song of Minos

Creating series of variations on specific motifs was an important aspect of Matisse’s creative process. For his principal book projects, Matisse executed a number of preparatory and finished images, finally choosing from among the variants the example to be published. In 1981, Matisse’s heirs published two volumes containing all of the rejected plates – over seventy - that the artist had created for the 1944 publication of Pasiphaé, Chant de Minos. This enables us to witness the remarkable creative process behind the production of one of Matisse’s greatest illustrated books.