Artwork
Festival of Flowers, Nice (Fête des fleurs)
Festival of Flowers, Nice (Fête des fleurs) is an oil painting by the Fauvist artist Henri Matisse. It dates from 1923 and is held in the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. “Festival of Flowers, Nice” is an oil painting capturing a bustling outdoor event.
About this work
Subject & Meaning
The composition captures a moment of celebration during the Fête des fleurs, with the Baie des Anges and Jetée‑Promenade visible in the background.
The painting shows a balcony overlooking the Promenade des Anglais in Nice, where Matisse’s daughter Marguerite and the model Henriette Darricarrère stand ready to toss flowers onto a festive procession below. The composition captures a moment of celebration during the Fête des fleurs, with the Baie des Anges and Jetée‑Promenade visible in the background. By positioning the figures on a balcony, Matisse juxtaposes private observation with public revelry, using the act of flower‑throwing as a symbolic gesture of participation in the seasonal festival. The work thus conveys themes of leisure, community, and the vibrant atmosphere of early‑20th‑century Nice.
Technique & Style
Executed in oil on canvas in 1923, Festival of Flowers, Nice is a cityscape whose handling emphasizes luminous color and planar simplification. Matisse’s technique builds up thin, fluid glazes that preserve the weave of the canvas support, while broader, unmodulated color fields flatten space and heighten the decorative effect. Figures and architecture are rendered through sinuous outlines and flattened shapes, subordinating volume to rhythmic pattern.
The composition is anchored by a balcony view toward the Promenade des Anglais, where Marguerite Matisse and Henriette Darricarrère stand poised to shower petals, their forms integrated into the overall chromatic design rather than perspectival recession.
History & Provenance
Henri Matisse executed the oil painting Festival of Flowers, Nice in 1923 while working in France. The composition depicts a flower parade on the Promenade des Anglais, viewed from a hotel balcony where the artist's daughter, Marguerite Matisse, and his model, Henriette Darricarrère, are positioned to throw blossoms at participants. Following its creation, the work passed through the Bernheim-Jeune gallery in Paris.
It entered the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art in Ohio in 1928, where it has remained housed since that acquisition.
Festival of Flowers, Nice (Fête des fleurs) is held by the Cleveland Museum of Art in Cleveland, Ohio, where it has been conserved since 1928. Its inventory designation at the museum is 1946.444. The painting entered the museum's collection after passing through the Bernheim-Jeune gallery in Paris.
Related treatments of the same subject are held by the Baltimore Museum of Art and the Kunstmuseum Bern.
Overview
“Festival of Flowers, Nice” is an oil painting capturing a bustling outdoor event. The composition features a woman seated on a bench, observing a lively beach scene unfolding before her. The artwork conveys the energetic atmosphere of a public celebration, with numerous figures, scattered umbrellas, and distant boats beneath a bright sky, characteristic of a vibrant coastal gathering.
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.
