| Artist | Henri Matisse |
|---|---|
| Year | 1953 |
| Type | Gouache on paper |
| Dimensions | 287 cm × 288 cm (1123⁄4 in × 108 in) |
| Location | Tate Gallery, London |
The Snail (L'escargot), is a collage by Henri Matisse,
The work was created at the Hotel Regina in Cimiez, Nice in the summer 1952 to early 1953. It is pigmented with gouache on paper, cut and pasted, onto a base layer of white paper, 9'43⁄4" × 9' 5" (287 × 288 cm) collection Tate Gallery, London.[1]
It consists of a number of colored shapes which look nothing like a snail, arranged in a spiral pattern, as suggested by the title. From the early to mid-1940s Matisse was in increasingly poor health, and was suffering from arthritis. Eventually by 1950 he stopped painting in favor of his paper cutouts. The Snail, is a major example of Matisse's final body of works known as the cutouts.[2]