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Title:Woman with Still LifeArtist:Henri Matisse
Date:1944
Creation Place:Europe, France
Credit Line:Gift of Ruth and Bruce Dayton
Image Copyright:© Succession H. Matisse / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Accession Number:91.148.7
Matisse once wrote: "I have always seen drawing not as the exercise of a particular skill, but above all as a means of expression of ultimate feelings and states of mind, a means that is condensed in order to give more simplicity and spontaneity to the expression which should be conveyed directly to the spirit of the spectator." This spirit of directness marks Woman with Still Life, created in 1944 during Matisse's final years in Vence, France. Here he proves that the most sketchy and spontaneous of lines can still produce an image of remarkable clarity and completeness.