Daisies

1939

Henri Matisse
French, 1869–1954

Henri Matisse titled this composition after the prominent vase of flowers on a tabletop. The large fields of unmodulated black, blue, and red reflect the artist’s growing interest in abstraction and a formal effect that he termed “ballast,” a synonym for stability.

Painted only months before France declared war on Germany, Daisies was first owned by the influential modern art dealer Paul Rosenberg (1881–1959). Within a year of purchasing the painting, Rosenberg, among other Jewish dealers, was targeted by the Nazis and was forced to flee France. Daisies was seized along with the majority of Rosenberg’s collection. Only after the war ended and a portion of these works were recuperated by the US Army was Rosenberg able to reclaim some of his collection, including this piece, which he brought to his newly founded gallery in New York.

Status: On View, Gallery 394
Department: Modern Art

Artist: Henri Matisse
Title: Daisies
Place: France (Artist's nationality:)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: 1939
Medium: Oil on canvas
Inscriptions: Signed and dated, l.r.: "Henri/Matisse/39"
Dimensions: 92 × 65 cm (36 3/16 × 25 5/8 in.)
Credit Line: Gift of Helen Pauling Donnelley in memory of her parents, Mary Fredericka and Edward George Pauling
Reference Number: 1983.206
Copyright: © 2018 Succession H. Matisse / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

L’Association française d’action and the British Council, Exhibition of Paintings by Picasso and Matisse, exh. cat. (Victoria and Albert Museum, 1945), cat. 26 (ill.), as Marguerites.
Société du salon d’automne, Catalogue des ouvrages de peinture, sculpture, dessin, gravure, architecture, et art décoratif, exh. cat. (E. Durand, 1945), p. 45, cat. 14, as Le bouquet de marguerites, fleurs, 1939.
Louis Parrot, “Matisse au Salon d’automne,” Labyrinthe 2, no. 13 (Oct. 15, 1945), p. 4 (ill.).
Alfred H. Barr, Jr., Matisse: His Art and His Public (Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1951), pp. 224, 253, 266, 485 (ill.), 547, as Daisies (Marguerites), Paris, 1939 (summer).
Art Institute of Chicago, addendum (Art Institute of Chicago, 1952), now bound into Museum of Modern Art, Henri Matisse, exh. cat., introduction by Alfred H. Barr, Jr. (Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1951), n. pag., as Daisies (1939).
Gaston Diehl, with notices by Agnès Humbert, Henri Matisse (Éditions Pierre Tisné, 1954), pp. 91, 156, as Marguerites et vase grec, 1939.
Raymond Escholier, Henri Matisse: Sein Leben und Schaffen, trans. Maurice Besset, Maurice Besset (Diogenes Verlag, 1958), p. 242 (ill.).
A. James Speyer, “Reports of the Departments: Twentieth Century Art,” Art Institute of Chicago Annual Report 1967–1968(Art Institute of Chicago, 1968), p. 23, as The Daisies, 1939.
Massimo Carrà, “Catalogo delle opera,” in Mario Luzi and Massimo Carrà, L’opera di Matisse dalla rivolta ‘fauve’ all’intimismo, 1904–1928, Classici dell’Arte 49 (Rizzoli Editore, 1971), p. 106, cat. 486 (ill.), as Marguerite, 1939. Translated as “Documentation: Catalogue des œuvres,” in Tout l’œuvre peint de Matisse, 1904–1928, ed. Xavier Deryng, Les Classiques de l’Art (Flammarion, 1982), p. 106, cat. 486 (ill.), as Marguerite, 1939.
Isabelle Monod-Fontaine, Matisse: Oeuvres de Henri Matisse (1869–1954), Collections du Musée national d’art moderne (Centre Georges Pompidou, Musée national d’art moderne, 1979), p. 70, as Marguerites, l’été 1939.
Art Institute of Chicago, “A Sharing of Art,” A Record of Sharing with Chicago’s Masterpiece: The Art Institute of Chicago, July 1, 1982–June 30, 1983; A Supplement to the 1982–83 Annual Report (Art Institute of Chicago, 1983), p. 25 (ill.), Les Marguerites (The Daisies), 1939.
Art Institute of Chicago, Art Institute of Chicago Annual Report, 1982–83, with a report by James Wood and E. Laurence Chalmers, Jr. (Art Institute of Chicago, 1983), pp. 6, fig. 7; 20; 48, as Les Marguerites (The Daisies), 1939.
“Acquisitions,” Mosaic (July/Aug. 1983), p. 8, as Les Marguerites, 1939.
Catherine C. Bock, “Woman before an Aquarium and Woman on a Rose Divan: Matisse in the Helen Birch Bartlett Memorial Collection,” “The Helen Birch Bartlett Memorial Collection,” special issue, Art Institute of Chicago Museum Studies 12, no. 2 (1986), p. 218, n. 2, Daisies (Marguerites), 1939.
Lydia Delectorskaya, L’apparente facilité: Henri Matisse: Peintures de 1935–1939 (Adrien Maeght Éditeur, 1986), pp. 32, 319 (ill.), as Fleurs et figure, pot arabe ou Fleurs de la St-Henri, 16 Juillet 1939.
Isabelle Monod-Fontaine, Anne Baldassari, and Claude Laugier, Matisse: Œuvres de Henri Matisse, Collections du musée national d’art moderne (Éditions du Centre Pompidou, 1989), p. 92, fig. c, as Fleurs et figures, pot arabe, 16 juillet 1939 and mi-juillet 1939.
John Elderfield with Beatrice Kernan and Judith Cousins, “Plates and Chronology,” in John Elderfield, Henri Matisse: A Retrospective, exh. cat. (Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1992), pp. 363; 390, pl. 320, as Daisies/Les Marguerites / Fleurs et figure, pot arabe, Paris, Atelier Villa Alésia, by July 16, 1939.
Jack Flam, Matisse: Image into Sign, exh. cat. (Saint Louis Art Museum, 1993), p. 25, cat. 10 (ill.), as Daisies, 1939.
Roger Benjamin, “The Vital Sign,” in Matisse, exh. cat., ed. Caroline Turner and Roger Benjamin (Queensland Art Gallery/Art Exhibitions Australia Limited, 1995), p. 35, as Daisies, 1939.
Lynne Seear with Roger Benjamin, “Chronology,” in Matisse, exh. cat., ed. Caroline Turner and Roger Benjamin (Queensland Art Gallery/Art Exhibitions Australia Limited, 1995), p. 166, as Daisies, 1939.
Caroline Turner and Roger Benjamin, eds., “Catalogue of Works,” in Matisse, exh. cat. (Queensland Art Gallery/Art Exhibitions Australia Limited, 1995), pp. 242, cat. 170; 252, n. 170 (ill.), as Daisies/Les Marguerites, 1939.
Claude Duthuit et al., Matisse: “La révélation m’est venue de l’Orient,” exh. cat. (Artificio, 1997), p. 214 (ill.), as Le margherite, 1939.
Yve-Alain Bois, Matisse and Picasso, exh. cat. (Kimbell Art Museum/Flammarion, 1998), pp. 116; 126–27, fig. 116; 142;180; 189; 258, as Daisies, July 16, 1939 and July 1939.
Richard Shiff, Doubt (Routledge, 2008), p. 121 (ill.), as Daisies (Les marguerites), 16 July 1939.
Robert M. Edsel with Bret Witter, The Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves, and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History (Center Street, 2009), n. pag. (ill.), as Marguerites.
Stephanie D’Alessandro, The Age of Picasso and Matisse: Modern Masters from the Art Institute of Chicago, with contributions by Renée DeVoe Mertz, exh. cat. (Art Institute of Chicago/Kimbell Art Museum, 2013; repr., 2014), p. 79 (ill.), as Daisies, July 16, 1939.
“Daisies,” in Matisse Paintings, Works on Paper, Sculpture, and Textiles at the Art Institute of Chicago, ed. Stephanie D’Alessandro (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 2019), cat. 47, https://publications.artic.edu/matisse/reader/works/section/87/87_anchor.
Darsie Alexander and Sam Sackeroff, with essays by Julia Voss and Mark Wasiuta, Afterlives: Recovering the Lost Stories of Looted Art, exh. cat. (New York: The Jewish Museum; New Haven: Yale University Press, 2021), 218 (color ill.).
Colette Taylor-Jones, Jean-Benoit Ormal-Grenon, and Thomas Bari Heard, eds., Matisse in the 1930s, exh. cat. (Philadelphia: Philadelphia Museum of Art; Paris: Musée de l’Orangerie; Paris RMN-Grand Palais; New Haven: in association with Yale University Press, 2022), 212, cat. 156, 213 (color ill.).

Paris, Palais des Beaux-Arts de la Ville de Paris, Salon d’automne 1945, Sep. 28–Oct. 29, 1945, cat. 14, as Le bouquet de marguerites, fleurs, 1939.
London, Victoria and Albert Museum, Exhibition of Paintings by Picasso and Matisse, Nov. 1, 1945–Jan. 11, 1946, cat. 26 (ill.), as Marguerites.
New York, Museum of Modern Art, Henri Matisse, Nov. 13, 1951–Jan. 13, 1952; Cleveland, Museum of Art, Feb. 5–Mar. 16, 1952; Art Institute of Chicago, Apr. 1–May 4, 1952, addendum to catalogue, no cat. no., as Daisies, (1939); San Francisco, Museum of Art, May 22–July 6, 1952 (Chicago only).
Art Institute of Chicago, Treasures of Chicago Collectors, Apr. 15–May 7, 1961, not in cat.
New York, Museum of Modern Art, Henri Matisse: A Retrospective, Sept. 24, 1992–Jan. 12, 1993, pl. 320, as Daisies / Les Marguerites / Fleurs et figure, pot arabe, by July 16, 1939.
Saint Louis Art Museum, Matisse: Image into Sign, Feb. 19–Apr. 25, 1993, cat. 10 (ill.), as Daisies, 1939.
Brisbane, Australia, Queensland Art Gallery, Matisse, Mar. 29–May 16, 1995, cat. 170 (ill.), as Daisies / Les Marguerites, 1939; Canberra, National Gallery of Australia, May 27–July 9, 1995; Melbourne, National Gallery of Victoria, July 19–Sept. 3, 1995.
Fort Worth, Kimbell Art Museum, Matisse and Picasso: A Gentle Rivalry, Jan. 31–May 2, 1999, fig. 116, as Daisies, July 1939.
Paris, Centre Pompidou, Musée National d’Art Moderne,Matisse: In Search of True Painting, Mar. 7–June 18, 2012; Copenhagen, Statens Museum for Kunst, July 14–Oct. 28, 2012; New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Dec. 4, 2012–Mar. 17, 2013 (Paris only).
Fort Worth, Kimbell Art Museum, The Age of Picasso and Matisse: Modern Masters from the Art Institute of Chicago, Oct. 6, 2013–Feb. 16, 2014, no cat. no. (ill.), as Daisies, July 16, 1939.
New York, The Jewish Museum, Afterlives: Recovering the Lost Stories of Looted Art, Aug. 20, 2021–Jan. 9, 2022, no cat. no.
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Matisse in the 1930s, Oct. 20, 2022–Jan. 29, 2023, cat. 156; Paris, Musée de l’Orangerie, as Matisse: Cahiers d’art-Le tournant de annés 1930, Mar. 1–May 29, 2023; Nice, Musée Matisse, June 32–Sept. 24, 2023 (Philadelphia only).

Paul Rosenberg (1881–1959), Paris and Bordeaux [Cultural Plunder by the Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg: Database of Art Objects at the Jeu de Paume, Paul Rosenberg Collection, ERR inventory no. PR 25; photocopy in curatorial object file]. Confiscated by the Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg (ERR), German Embassy, Paris [ERR inventory card mentioned above]. Transferred to the Musée du Louvre, Paris, Nov. 1940 [ERR database mentioned above]; transferred to the Jeu de Paume, Paris, from Sep. 5, 1941 [ERR inventory card mentioned above]. Restituted to Paul Rosenberg, New York, by Nov. 1, 1945 [Edsel and Witter 2009; email from Nicholas Smith, Victoria and Albert Museum Archive, Aug. 18, 2011; photocopy in curatorial object file]; sold to Helen Pauling Donnelley (Aug. 28, 1896–Sep. 3, 1984), Chicago and Sausalito, Calif., by Feb. 15, 1952 [Letters from Paul Rosenberg & Co. to Mrs. H. P. Donnelley, Feb. 15 and Feb. 26, 1952, MoMA, Paul Rosenberg Archives, II.H.7]; given to the Art Institute of Chicago, Apr. 18, 1983.

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