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The Colby College Museum of Art is pleased to announce the gift of Henri Matisse’s Océanie, le ciel, a monumental screenprint on linen conceived in 1946 and printed in 1948. The significant acquisition reinforces Colby’s position as a leading academic art museum and adds to Maine’s growing profile as a major destination for American and international art.

This landmark acquisition is a gift from Josephine Merrill Eastman and the Eastman family—in honor of Colby President David A. Greene.

“There are few families that have had a more profound impact on artists and the arts more generally than the Eastmans,” said President Greene. “They have spent a lifetime protecting the rights of artists to own their creative and intellectual property. It was a radical notion when they fought and won their first cases, and throughout their lives they have supported the arts in compelling and innovative ways. One of my great privileges in life is to know three generations of the Eastman family. In their quiet but determined ways, they are always improving the lives of others. Receiving this gift is a profound honor, and we do so with eternal gratitude.”

This acquisition brings a major work by Matisse into the Museum’s collection, substantially expanding its engagement with one of modernism’s central figures. The scale and significance of Océanie, le ciel further elevate the museum’s standing among peer institutions. A monumental Matisse of this caliber is rarely found outside a small number of the world’s foremost museums.

Océanie, le ciel stands as a pivotal work in the French artist’s late career, crystallizing his shift toward a “painting with scissors” cutout technique, or papier découpé, that would define his final decade. This mural-sized work was inspired by Matisse’s 1930 trip to Tahiti, where the intensity of light and the “enchantments” of the sea and sky left a lasting impression. These recollections are distilled into a vocabulary of highly abstracted marine forms—including fish, coral, and aquatic plants—contained within a rhythmic border of seaweed-like motifs. Matisse composed the work in situ by pinning cut-paper motifs directly

to adjoining walls in his studio, marking the first time he worked in large-scale paper compositions in a process now considered a medium in its own right. He would adjust the shapes until achieving a dynamic equilibrium.