Polynésie, le ciel - 1946
Centre National d'Art et de Culture Georges Pompidou, Paris
78.7" x 123.6"

Polonésie, le ciel (the sky) is a view, as Matisse saw it, of the birds in the sky as seen from the ground. The border of the picture consists of trees and above the confines of these branches the birds soar. The picture was made in 1946 and Matisse utilised his own gouache décopage technique in its creation. As this was one of his earlier découpage works the cuttings are relatively detailed in comparison with later works such as L'Escargot. The detail in the trees attracts the eye but it is the birds that are most definitely the centrepiece of the painting. The cut shapes convey movement and the choice of background colours highlight the white shapes of the birds.