The Artist in Morocco

The Artist in Morocco

HENRI MATISSE PAR LUI-MÊME, 1912
Henri Matisse
Pen and Ink on Paper
Private Collection, Location Unknown

This self-portrait of Matisse painting shows his own conclusion in action, that: "The voyages to Morocco helped me accomplish the necessary transition and make contact with nature again better than did the application of a lively but somewhat limiting theory, Fauvism" (qtd. Schneider 459).

Matisse on Horseback: Matisse went for rides on a mule and then on horseback, as pictured here, through the wild territory of Morocco. Thirty years later he would still vividly recall riding "through a field of pure, virginal grass, in the morning's beauty. It was something exquisite" (qtd. Cowart et. al 35).

Matisse, picture in native dress by the shore, with a mosque in the background.