©Henri Matisse - Odalisques 1928

Henri Matisse - Odalisques 1928
Odalisques
1928 46x73cm oil/canvas
Philadelphia Museum of Art

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From Philadelphia Museum of Art:
It was while living and working in Nice in the early 1920s that Henri Matisse introduced into his oeuvre the theme of the odalisque that he inherited from Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres (French, 1780-1867) and Eugène Delacroix (French, 1798-1863), in which recumbent female models were dressed in brightly colored North African costumes. In this painting, the curvilinear shapes of the languid women's bodies are repeated in the organically patterned wall hangings, while the checkerboard in front of them functions as another decorative prop in a composition filled with brightly colored textiles and fabrics drawn from Matisse's vast personal collection.