Matisse’s Studio Sublet to Spiderman
- Artist: Martin Kippenberger
- Date: 1996
- Medium: Lithograph on paper
- Dimensions: image: 578 x 398 mm
- Museum: Tate Modern
- Collection record: Tate Modern website
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About this artwork
This is the “Matisse’s Studio Sublet to Spiderman” by Martin Kippenberger. A lithograph on paper created in 1996, it was made to promote an exhibition that took place at L’Atelier Soardi in Nice that year.
Kippenberger was a German artist known for juggling painting, sculpture, music, writing and—most prolifically—poster design. He produced nearly 200 posters that doubled as both advertisements and playful statements. He never meant for them to be seen as mere flyers; they were part of a larger strategy to challenge the art world’s conventions, to blur the line between high art and popular culture.
In this piece he mixes a nod to Henri Matisse with the comic‑book hero Spiderman, creating a clash of high‑art reference and street‑savvy iconography. The result is a tongue‑in‑cheek critique that’s both witty and sharply critical, a hallmark of Kippenberger’s output that Jutta Koether praised as “the best representation of his range.”
See it in person
Matisse’s Studio Sublet to Spiderman is in the collection of Tate Modern on Bankside, London — free to enter. Point your phone at any artwork there and audioguide.london plays a free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
