Matisse at Villa Le Reve Author:Marie-France Boyer, Helene Adant "All my life I have worked in this way in front of these same objects; they give me the power of their reality by engaging my mind with all that they have experienced for me and with me." ?Henri Matisse Henri Matisse lived at the villa Le Rêve in Vence from 1943 to1948. Here he created a sensuous world, bringing to Vence all the... more » objects without which he could not draw and paint?jugs, vases, tables and chairs, shells, fabrics. A young Russian-born photographer, Hélène Adant, often came to visit her cousin Lydia Delectorskaya, who was Matisse's model and assistant from 1935 onward. Adant's photographs are a unique record, a series of freeze-frames that reveal the nature of Matisse's preparation for his art: perhaps an ornate Venetian chair partners a wrought-iron table displaying a yellow pitcher and melons; a pot of lilies or an octagonal Moroccan table are added. Matisse, hat on head, draws his Haitian model wearing a frilled blouse that Lydia has provided for the sitting. Marie-France Boyer's text evokes the particular atmosphere of Le Rêve, where Matisse produced Yellow and Blue Interior of 1946, Large Red Interior« less