Woman before an Aquarium
Henri Matisse (French, 1869–1954)
1921–23
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Classification
- Painting
- Dimensions
- 81.2 × 100.2 cm (31 15/16 × 39 7/16 in.)
- Culture
- France
- Museum
- Art Institute of Chicago, Modern Art
- Credit line
- Helen Birch Bartlett Memorial Collection
- Rights
- Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Tweens profiles and older: its subjects are known and suit older children. How works are placed
View at the Art Institute of Chicago
About this work
In the first two decades of the 20th century, Henri Matisse visited exhibitions of Islamic art and traveled to Algeria and Morocco, where he collected pottery, textiles, and tiles. Years later while living in Nice, France, Matisse reflected on these experiences, integrating visual elements he encountered, such as the patterned textile screen, into his paintings. In Woman before an Aquarium, the carefully subdued decorative pattern of the screen contributes to the psychologically rich, contemplative mood of this interior scene.
Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0
