The Nightmare of the White Elephant, from Jazz
<p>Matisse’s assistant Lydia Delectorskaya recorded his descriptions of the various images. According to her notes, in <em>The Nightmare of the White Elephant</em> “the white elephant is performing its act standing on a ball, under dazzling circus lights, while memories of his native black forest assail him like red tongues of fire, with all the violence of arrows.”</p>
Catalogue
- Year
- 1947
- Dimensions
- Sheet, folded: 42.1 × 32.7 cm (16 5/8 × 12 7/8 in.); Sheet, unfolded: 42.1 × 65.4 cm (16 5/8 × 25 3/4 in.)
- Collection
- Art Institute of Chicago
- Artist
- Henri Matisse
Artist
Painting
H enri Matisse, a leading force of modern art and founding figure of Fauvism, transformed vibrant color and bold form into a signature style that reshaped 20th-century aesthetics—from early radical experiments to his iconic late-career cut-outs. His works, held in top museums worldwide, remain highly collectible, with a historically strong and reliable market performance.
Full artist profile →More
More by Henri Matisse
Pasiphaé
1981 · Unbound book, in two volumes, with handset type in black and red and 82 linocuts in black, five linocuts in red, and one in blue on white wove paper, tucked in two paper wrappers, each with linocut in blue on white wove paper, and in ivory paperboard covers with ivory linen and red stamped spine and ivory paperboard slipcase with red linen trim
Frontispiece from Portraits by André Saurent
1954 · Lithograph
The Snail
1953 · Gouache on paper, cut and pasted on paper mounted on canvas
Nuit de Noël
1952 · Stained glass
The Swimming Pool, Maquette for ceramic (realized 1999 and 2005)
1952 · Gouache on paper, cut and pasted, on painted paper
Maquette for Nuit de Noël
1952 · Gouache on paper, cut-and-pasted on board
Record
Verified by WattsOS- Artist
- Henri Matisse
- Year
- 1947
- Dimensions
- Sheet, folded: 42.1 × 32.7 cm (16 5/8 × 12 7/8 in.); Sheet, unfolded: 42.1 × 65.4 cm (16 5/8 × 25 3/4 in.)
- Watts ID
- WW-1947-016533
Source
- Collection
- Art Institute of Chicago
- Source
- aic
- Reference
- View at source
- Status
- verified