The Windshield, On the Road to Villacoublay

The Windshield, On the Road to Villacoublay — Henri Matisse. 1917.

Medium: oil on canvas. Dimensions: Framed: 58 x 75 x 7 cm (22 13/16 x 29 1/2 x 2 3/4 in.); Unframed: 38.2 x 55.2 cm (15 1/16 x 21 3/4 in.).

Collection record: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland. Museum connection according to this source; current display unverified.

Henri Matisse painted this unusual view of a road and the surrounding rural landscape in summer of 1917 while being chauffeured by his son Pierre toward an airport on the outskirts of Paris. Seized by the novel idea of depicting the road from inside the car, Matisse asked his son to pull over so he could begin painting. Although forced to keep the windows shut, and despite passing traffic rocking the old Renault back and forth, Matisse managed to create a novel view of life in the modern automobile age.

Source: official collection record. Metadata selected and normalized by Artline from the source export, accessed 10 September 2026; no museum endorsement. Reproduction rights are separate.