Artwork
Apples
Apples is an oil painting by the Fauvist artist Henri Matisse. It dates from 1916 and is held in the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago.
About this work
Subject & Meaning
The background contrasts the naturalism of the apples with abstract planes of black, ochre, and yellow, isolating the fruit as the focal point.
The painting depicts fourteen apples arranged in a bowl, rendered in a still-life genre typical of Matisse’s work from 1916. The composition employs a vertical format with a plunging viewpoint onto the fruit, emphasizing the apples as the central subject. The background contrasts the naturalism of the apples with abstract planes of black, ochre, and yellow, isolating the fruit as the focal point.
Matisse’s choice of apples and the bowl underscores the still-life tradition, focusing on everyday objects to explore form and color rather than narrative or allegory.
Technique & Style
Created in 1916 at Issy-les-Moulineaux, Henri Matisse's Apples is an oil painting executed on a vertical canvas support. The work depicts fourteen apples arranged in a compote bowl, viewed from a high, bird's-eye perspective. Stylistically, the composition contrasts the detailed fruit against an abstract background rendered in black, ochre, and yellow tones.
This handling of form and color reflects Matisse's approach to still life during this period, emphasizing flat planes and bold contrasts over deep spatial recession.
History & Provenance
Henri Matisse painted Apples in 1916 at Issy-les-Moulineaux. The work passed through the Galerie Bernheim-Jeune in Paris before being donated to the Art Institute of Chicago by Florene May Schoenborn and Samuel Abraham Marx on December 29, 1948, where it remains in the collection.
The work is held in the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago, where it was acquired through a donation by Florene May Schoenborn and Samuel Abraham Marx on December 29, 1948. It has been exhibited in the museum’s galleries as part of its permanent display of Impressionist and early modern paintings, though specific exhibition titles are not detailed in the available sources. The painting measures 116.5 cm in height and 89.5 cm in width, and was created in Issy-les-Moulineaux in 1916.
Context
Matisse's 1916 oil painting Apples, measuring 116.5 cm by 89.5 cm, depicts fourteen apples in a bowl viewed from above against an abstracted background of black, ochre and yellow tones. Originally exhibited through the Parisian gallery Bernheim-Jeune, it entered the Art Institute of Chicago in 1948 via a donation by Florene May Schoenborn and Samuel Abraham Marx. The work is part of Matisse's broader exploration of still life and color field painting in the early 1910s, reflecting his engagement with formalist concerns and modernist abstraction.
A closely related piece, Apples on a Green Tablecloth, is held at the Chrysler Museum of Art in Norfolk, Virginia.
Overview
Created in 1916, Apples is an oil painting by Henri Matisse that presents a still‑life composition of fruit. Executed during the period when Matisse was associated with Fauvism, the work exemplifies his interest in vivid coloration and simplified forms, focusing on a bowl of apples as its central subject.
Artist & collection
Artist
Henri Émile Benoît Matisse (French:; 31 December 1869 – 3 November 1954) was a French visual artist, known for both his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship.
