Three Sisters with Grey Background (Les Trois soeurs sur fond gris)

Discussion

FROM THE BARNES FOUNDATION’S CATALOG

The three works on this wall form a group of three paintings, known as a triptych. Although the group is commonly called the "Three Sisters Triptych," it is likely that only two sisters served as models for all nine figures in the paintings—an Italian woman named Laurette and her sister Anna. Three Sisters with Grey Background was the last of the three paintings on this wall that Dr. Barnes purchased. Matisse himself suggested the acquisition when he visited the collector in Merion, Pennsylvania, in December 1930. After seeing Three Sisters with an African Sculpture and Three Sisters and "The Rose Marble Table" hung separately in the galleries, Matisse persuaded Barnes to buy Three Sisters with Grey Background and install the group as a triptych. The artist specified the arrangement of the trio himself, creating a lively rhythm of hand gestures and syncopated greens, purples, and yellows.

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