Henri Matisse
Odalisque in Red Trousers, c.1924-1925
 Oil on canvas
50.0 x 61.0cm
Musée de l'Orangerie, Paris
© Photo RMN
© Henri Matisse, c.1924-25/Succession H. Matisse.
Licensed by VISCOPY, Sydney 2001

Matisse's ‘odalisques’ display the artist's passion for decorative pattern and motifs. The artist visited the French colonies in North Africa (Algeria in 1906 and Morocco in 1912–13) where the brilliant light, exotic environment and Moorish architecture inspired a new body of work. His odalisques have been described by art historian Roger Benjamin as ‘elaborate fictions’ in which the artist re-created the image of the Islamic harem using French models posed in his Nice apartment. The fabrics, screens, carpets, furnishings and costuming recalled the exoticism of the ‘Orient’ and provided a theme for Matisse's preoccupation with the figure and elaborate pattern.

© copyright 2001, The National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne Australia