Henri Matisse, Océanie, le ciel, 1946; printed 1948. Screenprint on linen, plain weave. Ed. 22/30. 68 1⁄8 × 143 ½ in. (173 × 363.5 cm) unframed, 71 × 145 in. (180.3 × 368.3 cm) framed. Gift of the Eastman Family in honor of David Greene, a world-class educator and a valued friend of John Lindner Eastman. © 2026 Succession H. Matisse / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

For Colby College, artwork isn’t just meant to be seen.

It is meant to be studied — and not just by visual art students.

The new Henri Matisse screenprint Colby recently acquired will serve not only as course material for art classes, but also for classes like French and even statistics.

The artwork, “Océanie, le ciel,” is joining two other works by Henri Matisse already in the collection at Colby College Museum of Art, but it is the first of such monumental size and importance. Composed during the last period of Matisse’s decades-long career, the silk-screened linen panel was inspired by the French artist’s trip to Tahiti in 1930 and features marine life forms that he originally planned out by arranging cut paper motifs. The work was conceived in 1946 with the help of textile designer Zika Ascher and printed in 1948.

The screenprint, one of only 30 in the world, is now on exhibit at the museum’s Sally and Michael Gordon Gallery. Given by the Eastman family in honor of their friend, Colby president David Greene, the screenprint will be fully integrated into Colby’s curriculum at the family’s request. For museum patrons eager to see the work in person, admission is free and open to the public during museum hours.

The piece by Matisse is the first of his last collection of art. It is also unusual for the artist, who is famous for bold colors. With white shapes printed on raw linen, the color scheme is simple, and yet the dynamism of the visual forms and the interplay between them make it special, according to Jacqueline Terrassa, the Carolyn Muzzy Director of Colby College Museum of Art. 

The work is even more impressive because it was created when Matisse was in ill health and bedridden during that period of his career.

“He’s also making this artwork, composing it on the wall, having somebody move shapes around until he’s satisfied with what’s happening in front of him. So the process itself is really magical,” said Terrassa.

Terrassa imagines that the screenprint can be used to teach students across multiple disciplines about the powers of observation and how to draw inferences from a source.

“One of the ways in which we might use this work of art, because of its graphic qualities, might be in relation to a statistics course where the graphic quality of this artwork might help students think about visually representing data,” she said.

Terrassa also said that the artwork could be used for students practicing French.

Colby’s Class of 2026 marches past Miller Library for the 205th commencement in May. (Joe Phelan/Staff Photographer)<?xml version="1.0"?> Purchase this image

About 4,000 children from K-12 schools in Maine visit the museum every year, and Terrassa said that the college is working with the Maine schools to build curriculum for these students around the screenprint as well.

When they gave the screenprint to Colby, the Eastman family specifically asked that it be included in the curriculum at Colby and available to the broader Maine community.

“Our family has long championed art to be seen and embraced. At the same time, we believe that education, in particular the visual arts, is a critical facet of how to be prepared to engage the world at large,” the family said in an email statement.

“We thought that synthesizing these two passions in the form of a gift where the Matisse can be an integral component of the Colby curriculum made a lot of sense.”

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IF YOU GO

Colby College Museum of Art, 5600 Mayflower Hill Drive, Waterville. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday; noon-5 p.m. Sunday. Closed Monday. For more go to museum.colby.edu