Matisse, the World Inside a Room

Behind Henri Matisse’s luminous colours and seemingly simple lines lies a geography extending far beyond Europe. Matisse. The World in a Room, at MUDEC in Milan, starts precisely here, exploring how encounters with African, Islamic, Russian, Pacific and Chinese cultures contributed to the development of his artistic language. Eight sections and around one hundred works, including paintings, drawings and sculptures, trace this complex web of influences. Alongside Matisse’s works, objects and textiles reveal unexpected connections within his compositions: Islamic arabesques and Romanian clothing, Yoruba Gelede masks and medieval Russian icons. Loans from MoMA, Musée d’Orsay, Musée de l’Orangerie and the Philadelphia Museum of Art are presented alongside key works in his artistic journey, from the monumental Océanie diptych and the celebrated Jazz plates to drawings for the Chapel of the Rosary in Vence. Photographs taken by Matisse himself in Morocco complete the journey. The exhibition invites us to look beyond the elegance of his images: Matisse’s world emerged from encounters and exchanges between different cultures, transformed into one of the most radically innovative visual languages of the twentieth century.