While Tanner did not return to Tangier after his first and only visit in 1912, both the artistic advancements and the Moroccan setting stayed with him as he continued to produce religious paintings up until his death. The North African sun seemed to have helped Tanner expand his palette to include more luminous yellows and vibrant greens and blues, and this bolder variety of color appears immediately in his earliest religious paintings after his trip to Tangier. The biblically inspired Miraculous Haul of Fishes (1913-14) is rife with colors that were largely absent in Tanner’s previous body of religious work, but are comparable to colors found throughout the Tangier series. The streaks of pure green that line the ripples of the water is similar to the greens in Street in Tangier, the deep blue lining the hull of the boat appears in the shadowed walls of the buildings in Sunlight, Tangier, and intense yellow patch of sunlight in front of the boat reminds of the illuminant walls in Entrance to the Casbah. Tanner, however, took away more than a 
new palette when he left Tangier; memories of the unique Moroccan city scenes also stayed in the artist’s mind, with an image of the Tangier streets reappearing in his Flight into Egypt (1923). 
Done over a decade after his visit to Tangier, this painting bears a striking resemblance to Street in Tangier, so much so that it appears that Tanner used the earlier painting as a model (Mosby Tanner 268). While the perspectives and the structures of the enclosing buildings are similar, the paintings present very different moods, with Street in Tangier being brighter and more casual and Flight into Egypt conveying a clandestine sense of purpose. The difference stems from the fact that the latter is a religious painting and the former is not, and it is interesting to observe how resourceful Tanner was in remodeling an exotic Moroccan scene that struck his interest a decade ago to suit his vision of Biblical story. Perhaps Tanner’s trip to Tangier was not quite life or career changing, but Tangier did provide some ways for him to progress as an artist.
Images:
Tanner, Henry Ossawa. Miraculous Haul of Fishes, 1913-14. National Academy of Design, New York, NY.
Tanner, Henry Ossawa. Flight into Egypt, 1923. Estate of Sadie T.M. Alexander.
Tanner, Henry Ossawa. Street in Tangier, 1912. Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C.