Notre-Dame, one late afternoon
Notre-Dame de Paris across the Seine, pared down to a few blue and green strokes — seen from Matisse's window on the quai Saint-Michel.
Notre-Dame de Paris
The painting shows a real, identified place that you can find today. The exact spot the artist worked from is not necessarily known.
Notre-Dame, one late afternoon — at a glance
- Artist
- Henri Matisse (1869–1954)
- Year
- 1902
- Movement
- Post-Impressionism / towards Fauvism
- Place
- Notre-Dame de Paris, from 19 quai Saint-Michel
- Viewpoint
- Matisse's studio window across the Seine — the quay, the building and the cathedral survive (Notre-Dame under post-2019 restoration)
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- c. 72 × 55 cm
- Now at
- Buffalo AKG Art Museum, New York
Overview
A Glimpse of Notre-Dame in the Late Afternoon is one of many views Henri Matisse painted from the window of his studio on the Left Bank of Paris. Made in 1902, it reduces the scene to essentials: a vertical slice of the window frame and a balcony rail at the left, the grey-green band of the Seine and a quay, a bare tree, and the bulk of Notre-Dame — its towers and flank — laid in with a few flat, rapid strokes of blue, green and violet against a pale sky. It is oil on canvas, about 72 by 55 cm, and it hangs in the Buffalo AKG Art Museum (formerly Albright-Knox), New York.
Where was Notre-Dame, one late afternoon painted?
Scholarship Matisse had a studio on an upper floor at 19 quai Saint-Michel, on the Left Bank of the Seine, from 1899 to 1907 (and again later), directly across the river from the east end of the Île de la Cité and Notre-Dame. He painted the cathedral and the river from that window many times over the years. The quay, the building at number 19, the bridge and Notre-Dame all survive — the cathedral badly damaged by fire in 2019 and under restoration — so the viewpoint is precisely fixed and can be matched.
How we know
- A view of the real cathedral; 'Seine' is the whole river.
What is in the painting?
At the left edge, a strip of dark window frame and a bit of balcony ironwork. Then the Seine as a broad grey-green horizontal, a low quay wall, a leafless tree. On the far bank, Notre-Dame is a blocky mass — the twin towers, the long roof, a hint of the spire — brushed in with loose, flat patches of blue-green and mauve. The sky is a plain pale wash. Everything is simplified and quick.
Look closely
The window edge
A strip of dark window frame and balcony ironwork at the left — the viewer is inside the studio.
The band of Seine
The river is a broad flat grey-green horizontal with a low quay wall and a bare tree.
The blocky cathedral
Notre-Dame's towers and roof are brushed in as loose flat patches of blue-green and mauve.
Analysis
Composition and technique
A window slice at one side, horizontal bands of quay and river, and the cathedral reduced to a few flat strokes.
Scholarship Matisse pares the famous monument down to its essential shape and a few colours, using the window edge as a frame. It belongs to his experimental years just before Fauvism, when he was testing how far a motif could be reduced and still hold.
History & provenance
The painting is in the Buffalo AKG Art Museum, New York.
Sources
- Buffalo AKG Art Museum — collection entry for Henri Matisse, ‘A Glimpse of Notre-Dame in the Late Afternoon’ (1902)
- Hilary Spurling, ‘The Unknown Matisse’ (1998) — the quai Saint-Michel studio
Related paintings
The Open Window
1905
Matisse's Collioure window of 1905 — the same window-onto-a-view idea, three years and a revolution in colour later.
View of Paris from Vincent's Room in the Rue Lepic
1887
Van Gogh's Paris view from a window, 1887.
Vue de toits
1878
Caillebotte's Paris roofscape from a window, 1878.
More by Henri Matisse
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