Matisse in Morocco: A Journey of Light and Color

by Jeff Koehler

The remarkable and little-known story of the two groundbreaking winters that Henri Matisse spent painting in Morocco, a fertile period that transformed his art and marked his work until the very end.

In winter of 1912, Henri Matisse—forty-two, nearing mid-career, and yet to find lasting critical acceptance, public admiration, or financial security since exploding to the forefront of the avant-garde in 1905 with his iconoclastic Fauve paintings—was struggling. Once the vanguard leader, the Parisian avant-garde now considered him passé. His important early collectors, including Gertrude and Leo Stein, had stopped buying his work and were fully championing Picasso, and he had exhibited little in the last few years. In the face of Cubism that was now dominating the art scene, Matisse needed to get away from Paris in order to advance his distinctive artistic vision.

Almost on a whim, he went to Tangier. Matisse had already been profoundly inspired by Islamic art, and was primed for his arrival in the Moroccan city where such art was integrated into everyday life. Despite the challenges of rain, insomnia, depression, and finding models, the sojourn was such a success he returned the following winter, which would lead to even greater artistic triumph.

Matisse in Morocco tells the story of the artist's groundbreaking time in Tangier and how it altered Matisse’s development as a painter and indelibly marked his work for the next four decades. Through Koehler's research and travel, we experience Matisse's time in Tangier, the paintings and their subjects, his relationships with his wife Amélie and his two important collectiors, and then come to understand the impact Morocco—its light, colors, culture, and artistic traditions—had on his art. From Landscape Viewed From a Window, to Zorah on the Terrace, from Kasbah Gate to the dream-like tableau Moroccan Café, these works from Morocco are now recognized as some of the most significant and dazzling of Matisse’s illustrious career.

Genres: Art, Art History

320 pages, Hardcover

Published June 3, 2025

Reviews

[Cheryl Sokoloff · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an incredible book. Matisse spent two winters in Tangiers, and those months had such a profound influence on the course not only of his art, but on so many lives in the process.
This was eye opening for me, (I am no connoisseur on the field of Henri Matisse), but now, I feel educated on this aspect of his life.
About to visit the Matisse museum in Nice!

[Debbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Matisse in Morocco, a newly released book by author and journalist Jeff Koehler, is about Henri Matisse’s creative stints in Morocco—mostly Tangier. A slave to his art, Matisse, Koehler writes, traveled by steamship to Tangier in 1912 for the “light” it was famous for. Eugene Delacroix [1798 - 1863] traveled to Tangier for the same reason, yet that was in 1832, and interestingly, both faced similar barriers in painting the human figure due to a deep distrust from the Moorish locals. Sketches, drawings, or paintings were viewed by the locals as bad omens, sacrilegious even, given the Islamic customs that forbade depictions of human figures of almost any kind. However, both Delacroix and Matisse were able to secure models by going underground and paying well, yet as Koehler describes, securing female models, which Matisse preferred, was a challenge for Matisse. Through a contact at Matisse's hotel in Tangier, Matisse managed to secure a young woman, Zorah—a woman he painted several times. There are a handful of captivating paintings of Zorah, including Zorah on the Terrace (1912), included in the book along with several other colored images of Matisse’s artworks influenced by his time in Morocco. I spent much time engaging with the images of Matisse’s paintings on the pages within the book. For that reason, I suggest that anyone who admires Matisse and his art will appreciate this book for the pictures alone. The images are stupendous; there were many I’d never seen before.

I have read several books about Matisse, and Koehler’s book was the first that described in detail two female artists who were close friends of Matisse—Hilda Rix and Georgette Agutte. Koehler includes excerpts of letters between the artist and his friends that give glimpses into their relationships and how they supported and influenced each other. The passage below was an excerpt from a letter to Matisse by Georgette Agutte.

“Your two sketches, so fresh and so delicate in tone, show a concession to public opinion; in this large room, they are as if lost. One would like to see them in a small private room, but there, you must have these large admirable paintings that catch the eye, impose themselves, and would decorate this entire large room on their own,” she tactfully wrote. She was referring to two new works that were sitting at the moment in his studio (p 7).

I very much appreciated the inclusion of these two female artists in Matisse in Morocco, which led me on a hunt to learn more of each. Art lovers and Matisse admirers will thoroughly enjoy this fine book.

[Jee Koh · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really enjoyable read. I especially appreciate the weaving of the writings of Moroccans into the fascinating story of Matisse in the country, so we get to see not only Matisse's view of the country, but also the country's view, so to speak, of Matisse. The autonomy, dignity, respect, and equality that Matisse gave to his Moroccan human subjects, such as Zorah and the Riffian, is beautifully drawn out from his diaries, interviews, and, most importantly, paintings. I've always loved the mysterious painting "The Moroccans" in MoMA, and this biography makes beautifully clear the history of Matisse's engagement with Islamic art and North Africa that led up to its climactic finish in the painting.

[CP · Rating 4 out of 5]

Written in a super engaging way, the book is really about Matisse and his Russian patrons / collectors. I would appreciate a bit more “colors” on how exactly to appreciate his style shift though.
Morocco is indeed the Orient, but Matisse does seem a little different from the typical Orientalist. Or maybe as some Orientalist theorists put it, this is a way to define the West, rather the East.

[Olga Vannucci · Rating 5 out of 5]

His career had lost some luster,
Even Gertrude Stein perplexed.
Tangier newly made the master,
It brought out his very best.