Torch of Hope was created by Henri Matisse (1869 – 1954) in the last year of his life. The collage was made by gluing yellow, blue, and black painted paper cut-outs onto a board, a process Matisse described as “cutting directly into color” and “drawing with scissors.” A leader of Fauvism and a master colorist, Matisse developed this technique in his last decade of life and considered cut-outs to reach “a greater space” than the confines of easel painting. 

Matisse made the collage specially for the UNICEF greeting card program and donated it to the United Nations in 1954. Originally deriving all of its funding from United Nations member states, UNICEF began its own fundraising in 1951 by selling greeting cards, with all proceeds going to the agency’s mission to improve health and welfare of the world’s most disadvantaged children. Met with great success, UNICEF greetings cards have featured the work of many notable artists and continue to be available for purchase today. UNICEF reproduced Matisse’s Torch of Hope in its 1972 card selection.