Nude with White Scarf

About this work

The original, from 1909, is in the Statens Museum for Kunst in Copenhagen, 116 by 89 cm. Matisse painted it the year he left Paris for Issy, building a body entirely of contour and flat colour — no modelling, no shadow.

The sharpest change of shape in the group: Matisse painted an almost square format, and Rami Alon stretched it to 90 by 48 cm — twice the ratio. The body lengthens, and the white scarf becomes the vertical that holds the whole piece.

And with no shading, mosaic has nowhere to hide: the contour is the entire work, and a single stone out of line shows.