Mass at the Matisse Chapel
Liturgical rite and Provençal light are essential elements of Matisse’s masterpiece.
La Chappelle du Rosaire de Vence, or The Matisse Chapel, is set on a hillside in a residential neighborhood in the foothills of the Alps. The modest building blends with the tiled roofs, roses and oleander of the surrounding houses and hills. Drivers and the many bicyclists climbing to the mountain villages to the north go by without realizing that they have passed one of the most important works of 20th century modern art. Henri Matisse himself described the Chapel as his masterpiece, although there is little on the street to indicate the profound artistic and spiritual experience to be found within its walls.
From the street, the visitor enters a small vestibule and descends a narrow staircase, all painted in flat white. Then, through the kind of plain door that one would find in a typical French house, one enters the realm of brilliant color, stained glass and streamlined religious form, all designed by Matisse himself. The stained-glass colors - yellow, azure, and green - are part of the sheer genius of Matisse, reflecting the shades of the surrounding sea, sky, and mountains, and illuminated by the distinctive spectrum of light from the strong Provençal sun.
The effect of the color from the stained glass can be overwhelming. Sebastian Smee, the art critic for the Washington Post wrote that when he first visited the Matisse Chapel with his family, the experience was so emotional that it brought him to the point of tears.
The first stained glass viewed on entering consists of six narrow arches that blend into a single form. In the usual convention for stained glass, a single arch will contain the entire design. Matisse, on the other hand, created a flowing series of forms that extends through all six of the arches. Although abstract, the organic forms are reminiscent of leaves and follow a unifying sine wave pattern across the six arches. At the top of the piece, the forms come to a central point in the middle two arches, creating an uplifting feeling and evoking the action of a priest raising the chalice and host.
There are two other stained-glass works in the Chapel. One is similar to the first, with the leaf and sine wave pattern. The other, at the back of the Chapel, consists of two much larger arches. This design evokes the shape of a priest’s chasuble, with the upper corners uplifted to the heavens. The chasuble form is a deep azure blue and is set against a butter yellow background. Within the blue form are organic shapes that resemble leaves and flowers. They are not specific representations but look like the flora found in the surrounding countryside.
Matisse designed the vestments to be worn by the celebrating priest and they continue to be used to this day. The vestments use the same organic design forms as the windows and are in the same bright colors in harmony with the liturgical season. When the priest celebrating the Mass lifts the chalice and host, and the chasuble swings upward to the heavens, the connection to the stained-glass designs is clear. One of the Matisse designed chasubles is in the Vatican Museum in Rome. Its strong graphic design is immediately noticeable through the crowds and across the distance of the Museum.
The interior walls of the Chapel hold three black and white tile murals. Directly behind the altar is a St. Dominic, the patron saint of the convent. Behind the main seating area of the Church is a rendering of the Stations of the Cross. To the right of the main seating is an abstract rendering of the Madonna and Child.
These three murals are a sharp contrast to the bright stained glass. The figures are black painted on bright white tile. They are very simple but profound in form, almost like Japanese calligraphy, and the brush strokes are visible on the tile. The forms and brush strokes reduce these important religious statements to their most basic and essential elements. Particularly in the fourteen Stations of the Cross, Matisse conveyed action and spiritual meaning with a few brush strokes. Each of the stations is labeled with simple Roman numeral.
Most importantly, the murals are illuminated by the blue, green, and yellow of the stained-glass The bright white tiles that solemnly depict somber religious scenes reverberate with the bright light and color of Provençe.
Casual visitors to the Matisse Chapel miss what I believe to be one of the critical aspects of Matisse’s masterpiece; that it was intended to be used as a place for Catholic worship. It comes to life in the celebration of the Mass.
The Chapel remains part of a Dominican convent and is a functioning Catholic Church. During a recent trip to the South of France, my wife and I attended Mass in the Chapel on two consecutive Sundays. We were warmly greeted by a man in typical Sunday South of France attire of a loose white shirt. He asked us a few questions in French – where we were from and what us brought us to the Mass on Sunday. From his warm welcoming smile and personal attention, we gathered that he was an important member of the local community. He was in fact, the priest who would celebrate the Mass and introduce us to the rest of the Church as “Les Americains”. The Mass was liturgically simple with hymns sung without organ and prayers and readings spoken in slow, clear French, understandable even by les americains.
Although Matisse was baptized Catholic as child, most biographers state that he was an atheist at the time that he designed the Chapel. But his designs and the profound effect that they have on people tell a different story.
The rendering of the Stations of the Cross indicates a deep understanding of the Via Dolorosa, to the point where they could be captured and conveyed in a few broad, calligraphic brush strokes. This would have been impossible if Matisse had not internalized these scenes and thought about them for many years.
The fact that Matisse designed the priest’s vestments also shows that Matisse intended the Chapel to reflect his aesthetic sense of the Catholic liturgy. The stained glass and tile were intended to be much more than static designs and the direct connection to the priest’s vestments and movements makes the case.
The Mass at the Chapel takes a little over an hour, time well spent in contemplating the religious significance of Matisse’s work. “The Light” is an important New Testament theme and there is no better visual representation of it than the green, yellow, and blue reflections on the black and white tile walls. When the priest raises the chalice and host, his uplifted chasuble directly connects to the design of the stained-glass windows and to the outstretched form of the Madonna. All the design elements and their connected significance come together in the celebration of the Mass.