Henri Matisse at the Chrysler Museum (and two kids' books about his art)

Part II of our Chrysler Museum visit was my favorite: seeing the paintings by Henri Matisse on display as part of a loan program with the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC. Matisse might be one of my favorite artists, if not THE favorite, so this was a big deal for me, and I was excited to introduce Anne to his work. In preparation for the visit, I checked two picture books on Matisse out of the library: The Iridescence of Birds, which covers Matisse's childhood inspiration and the way it influenced his use of color, and Henri's Scissors, about his famous cutouts. Warning, that last one might make you cry if you are even remotely hormonal.



Our own Fauves were a little worn out by the time we reached the Matisses, thanks to the awesome video game exhibit we visited first, but they listened patiently as we read to them and looked at the paintings (Anne particularly loved the one with the sailboats and pink water). There are so many great ideas for Matisse-inspired kid art projects, I kind of can't wait to start on that.

The Matisse exhibit will be at the Chrysler through the end of June.