Henri Matisse "The Lagoon." Image courtesy of Pictify.

 The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York has announced that it will extend the run of its wildly successful exhibition “Henri Matisse: The Cut-Outs.” Since opening on October 12, 2014, over 500,000 visitors have seen the blockbuster show, which smashed attendance records when it was on view at Tate Modern in London last summer.

“The Cut-Outs” was supposed to wrap-up its run on February 8, 2015, but the show will remain on view through February 10, 2015. MoMA will also extend “The Cut-Outs” viewing hours -- the exhibition will be open until 8PM on the weekends of January 17–18, 2015, and January 24–25, 2015. A marathon viewing will take place from 10:30AM on Friday, February 6, 2015, to 5:30PM on Sunday, February 8, 2015.

In the late 1940s, during the last decade of his life, Henri Matisse turned almost exclusively to cut paper as his primary medium, and a pair of his scissors as his unorthodox chief implement. Studio assistants would paint white paper with varying hues of gouache and Matisse would cut organic shapes -- typically plants, animals, and figures -- from the sheets. The artist, who found himself increasingly immobile, would arrange smaller compositions directly on a board using pins, but for larger works, he directed his assistants to arrange them on the walls of his studio. Matisse became enamored with the process as it gave him a renewed sense of freedom. He also lauded the technique for its immediacy and simplicity, which he believed help him express his artistic urges more completely.

“The Cut-Outs” is the largest and most extensive presentation of these unique and lively works. The exhibition presents approximately one-hundred cut-outs -- borrowed from public and private collections around the world -- alongside a selection of related drawings, prints, illustrated books, stained glass, and textiles. Highlights from the show include cut-outs from his seminal “Jazz” series, his iconic “Blue Nudes,” and MoMA’s own cut-out, “The Swimming Pool,” which recently underwent a multi-year conservation. “The Swimming Pool,” which was composed specifically for Matisse’s dining room in his apartment in France, was acquired by MoMA in 1975 and has been off view for over twenty years.

While visitor numbers have been incredibly strong at “Henri Matisse: The Cut Outs,” the show is not likely to break attendance records at MoMA. The museum’s most well-attended show remains a 1980 Pablo Picasso retrospective, which drew 976,800 visitors.