Matisse in Morocco

What interests me most is neither still life or landscape, but the human figure. It is that which best permits me to express my so-to-speak religious awe towards life.
- Henri Matisse

Serendipity played a role in Henri Matisse’s success as an artist. He went to law school in Paris, passed the bar and in 1889, at the age of 20, got a job as a law clerk. His life changed when he had a bout of appendicitis. While he was convalescing he mother brought him art supplies. Matisse found that painting was much more enjoyable than law clerking.

 

 

Matisse had a very successful career until about 1912, when younger painters, like Picasso, were introducing Cubism as the new avant-garde style and, at age 42, Matisse found himself struggling; he was in need of money and inspiration.

 

He bought a one-way ticket to Tangier. 

 

The trip changed his life, his art and the art world itself. Matisse in Morocco: A Journey of Light and Color is a recently published book by American author Jeff Koehler that tells the story of Matisse’s time in Morocco and how it changed not only the artist, but the art world. The colors and light in Tangier, the rugs, mosaics and other art objects had an enormous impact on Matisse’s style; it became more patterned and abstract, with jeweled-toned fields of color and pattern, a style that, once again, gained Matisse the critical acclaim he deserved. 

 

 

Matisse’s friend and rival, Picasso, greatly admired Matisse’s works. The two artists met around 1906 at the Paris apartment of Gertrude Stein. Although Picasso was more than ten years younger than Matisse, his career had, before the Moroccan trip, eclipsed that of Matisse. The admiration each had for the other was reported in a conversation between the two. ''Everything considered, there is only Matisse,'' Picasso said. ''Only one person has the right to criticize me.’' Matisse responded.

 

An exhibit of paintings that Matisse did of his eldest daughter, Marguerite, is currently on view at the Musée d’Art Moderne in Paris. Matisse and Marguerite: Through Her Father’s Eyes will be on exhibit through August 24, 2025.

 

Works by Matisse and other French masters will be on exhibit at the Horn Museum in Gainesville, Florida. French Moderns: Monet to Matisse, 1850–1950 will be on view from Aug. 5, 2025 through Jan. 4, 2026.

 

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 Please contact us if you would like more information about the works of Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso available at VFA.

 

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July 29, 2025