Exhibition Guide
Henri Matisse. Detail of The Stations of the Cross, Chapel of the Rosary, Vence. All copyright-protected works by Henri Matisse © 2025 Succession H. Matisse / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: © Musée Matisse Nice/François Fernandez
Station 13: Jesus Is Taken Down from the Cross and Given Back to His Mother Visual Descripiton
Station 13, positioned near the right of the top row, measures three tiles high and three tiles wide. Near the top of the scene, a jumble of black lines loosely depicts Jesus’ body on an upright cross. A second cluster of lines adjacent to the figure on the cross indicates another figure perched at the top of a ladder. The ladder extends from the lower right corner of the scene to meet the top of the upright cross. Two rounded, blob-like forms at the bottom of the scene flank the cross and ladder, representing mourners with heads downturned.