The Golden Tree with Birds

About this work

A slender tree rises from deep emerald green. Its leaves are flat cut-paper shapes in raised gold leaf, and small birds fly in and out of the branches. There is no shading and no deep space, only shape, colour and the quick movement of the birds. The mood is calm and natural, and quietly luxurious.

In the 1940s, when illness made painting at the easel difficult, Henri Matisse turned to paper cut-outs. Assistants coated sheets with gouache, and he cut shapes straight from the colour, then had them pinned and arranged on the wall. Leaves, seaweed and birds became recurring forms. Near the end of his life he also designed the Chapel of the Rosary in Vence, whose stained-glass windows are known as the Tree of Life. This work speaks that language in gold. It is a reimagining in the spirit of Matisse, not a copy.

Green walls, plants and natural wood suit it well, though it also lifts a plain white room. Hang it in a bedroom, a reading corner or a dining room. In the Cut-Outs in Gold set it joins Golden Seaweed, on cobalt blue, and Golden Leaves on Black. The file prints sharply to roughly 75 cm on the long edge at 300 dpi.