The Musée Matisse in Nice has handed the keys to its galleries to Brooklyn-born painter Alex Katz, marking a moment where the institution’s permanent collection engages in a dialogue with a living master.
Running from October 28, 2026, through January 18, 2027, the exhibition—titled Henri Matisse – Alex Katz: The Silence of Painting—is a curated conversation between two distinct eras of figurative art.
For Katz, who was born in 1927, this exhibition serves as the culmination of a fascination that began in February 1949. As a student at the Cooper Union in Manhattan, the young artist visited the Pierre Matisse Gallery in New York, where he encountered the elder Matisse’s “Intérieurs de Vence” series. That experience left an indelible mark on his aesthetic development.
The project, curated by Aymeric Jeudy, director of the Musée Matisse and associate researcher at the University of Nice Côte d’Azur, grew out of Katz’s own engagement with the museum’s holdings in 2024. The exhibition features a broad chronological scope, bridging the gap between Katz’s early work, such as the 1951 painting Nude, and his more recent output, including Lilies 13, which was completed in 2025.
The exhibition title draws inspiration from Louis Aragon, who named one of Matisse’s 1947 canvases Le silence habité des maisons, or “The Inhabited Silence of Houses.” By placing his own works alongside the museum’s collection—which originates from Matisse’s own studio—Katz invites visitors to view the French master’s legacy through a contemporary lens.
While Abstract Expressionism dominated the American art scene during the rise of Katz’s career, he carved out a singular path that prioritized figurative traditions, including landscapes, floral still lifes, and the human figure. According to the curatorial notes from the Musée Matisse, the painter shares a foundational vocabulary with Matisse based on the simplification of forms and an economy of means.
Both artists move beyond naturalism, favoring a style where the subject is stylized, reworked, and transformed within the studio environment. Their shared interest in the rhythms of dance, fashion, and cinema provides a thematic bridge that allows these bodies of work to coexist within the museum’s walls.
This is an active, designed interaction where Katz’s paintings, drawings, collages and prints invite the public to revisit the museum’s collections through a contemporary lens.
The exhibition shows a history of cultural exchange between France and the United States. Matisse’s work was exhibited across the Atlantic from 1908 onwards, playing a part in introducing the American public to avant-garde developments in European art. The current exhibition at the Musée Matisse shows how the influence of Matisse’s work continues to resonate.
Visitors can experience the full scope of this exhibition at 164 Avenue des Arènes de Cimiez in Nice. The museum is open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., except on Tuesdays, with admission set at €12. The exhibition remains on view until January 18, 2027.
As the museum notes in its public programming, this annual autumn exploration of contemporary perspectives on Matisse’s work highlights the “Silence of Painting” as a concept. Whether through the compositions of Katz or Matisse, the exhibition poses an open question: how long can a singular aesthetic shock—like the one Katz felt in 1949—continue to reverberate through an artist’s life and work?
