The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of July 14, 2025

The Windshield, On the Road to Villacoublay

1917
(French, 1869–1954)
France, 20th century
oil on canvas
Framed: 58 x 75 x 7 cm (22 13/16 x 29 1/2 x 2 3/4 in.); Unframed: 38.2 x 55.2 cm (15 1/16 x 21 3/4 in.)
Bequest of Lucia McCurdy McBride in memory of John Harris McBride II 1972.225
© Succession H. Matisse / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Location: not on view

Description

Henri Matisse painted this unusual view of a road and the surrounding rural landscape in summer of 1917 while being chauffeured by his son Pierre toward an airport on the outskirts of Paris. Seized by the novel idea of depicting the road from inside the car, Matisse asked his son to pull over so he could begin painting. Although forced to keep the windows shut, and despite passing traffic rocking the old Renault back and forth, Matisse managed to create a novel view of life in the modern automobile age.
  • Sold through Bernheim-Jeune to Adrien Hébrard, 1917; Mrs. R. A. Workman, London (1924); (Kraushaar, 1929, sold to donor, Mrs. Malcolm McBride, in 1941)
  • The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 249 archive.org
    Hinson, Tom E. “Alex Katz’s Impala.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 73, no. 8 (October 1986): 314–326. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 324, fig. 16 www.jstor.org
    Krauss, Rosalind E. Willem De Kooning Nonstop: Cherchez La Femme. Chicago, London: The University of Chicago Press, 2015. Mentioned: p. 30; Reproduced: p. 133, figure 62
  • Roaring: Art, Fashion, and the Automobile in Interwar France. Saint Louis Art Museum, St. Louis, MO (organizer) (April 12-July 27, 2025) https://www.slam.org/exhibitions/roaring-art-fashion-and-the-automobile-in-france/.
    Cinématisse. Musée Matisse, Nice, France (organizer) (September 18, 2019-January 5, 2020) http://www.musee-matisse-nice.org/.
    London, England. Whitechapel Art Gallery. "Speed" 9/11 - 11/22/98.
    Speed-Visions of an Accelerated Age. Whitechapel Art Gallery (organizer) (September 11-November 22, 1998).
    Pensacola, Florida, Pensacola Museum of Art, Carsinart, May 1, July 15, 1990.
    Washington, D.C., The National Gallery of Art, Henri Matisse: The Early Years in Nice, November 2, 1986-March 29, 1987.
    Los Angeles, California, The Museum of Contemporary Art, The Automobile and Culture, July 21, 1984-January 6, 1985.
    Year in Review: 1972. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 27-March 18, 1973).
  • {{cite web|title=The Windshield, On the Road to Villacoublay|url=false|author=Henri Matisse|year=1917|access-date=14 July 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1972.225