Matisse and the Sea Exhibit at the Saint Louis Art Museum

Thanks to fortuitous timing, the Matisse and the Sea exhibit at the Saint Louis Art Museum was free for us to visit.

I’m not especially a fan of Henri Matisse, especially the iconic painting the exhibit was built around, Bathers with a Turtle (1907-8) (the cover photo to this post).

The first room of the exhibit lured me in with some related art that was not by Matisse but which was quite lovely.

And then we saw a few Matisse pieces that had me thinking all would be well.

*Sailboats at Collioure*, Henri Matisse, 1905. This one was nice, I thought!

*Three Bathers*, Henri Matisse, 1907. This was a compositional study for *Bathers with a Turtle.* Though I like it slightly better than the final, it’s still a no by me.

Then we got to the Bathers with a Turtle where the trouble began. A little further on there was a video about it that we watched, so I went back and tried to look at the painting with fresh eyes, and it was still a hard no. I sincerely don’t get the appeal at all.

The exhibit was still quite interesting, as you got to see a wide range of styles and mediums used by Matisse.

Doug clearly enjoyed his works much more than I, as per usual when it comes to art (unless we’re looking at the Impressionists).