Matisse in Morocco : A Journey of Light and Color - Jeff Koehler

Matisse in Morocco

A Journey of Light and Color

By: Jeff Koehler

Hardcover | 3 June 2025

At a Glance

Hardcover


$65.72

or 4 interest-free payments of $16.43 with

 or 

Available: 3rd June 2025

Preorder. Will ship when available.

The remarkable and little-known story of Henri Matisse and his groundbreaking time in Morocco, a fertile period that transformed his art and cemented his legacy.

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.
Industry Reviews
Praise for Jeff Koehler

"Koehler weaves an absorbing narrative."

More in History of Art & Design Styles

Disney Parks Mazes : Disney - Sean C. Jackson

RRP $22.99

$19.75

14%
OFF
JoJo A-Go!Go! : JoJo A-Go!Go! - Hirohiko Araki

RRP $43.99

$34.75

21%
OFF
Studio Ghibli : Architecture in Animation - Studio Ghibli

RRP $49.99

$38.75

22%
OFF
Australian Abstract : Contemporary abstract painting - Amber Creswell Bell
Gray Malin: Dogs: Photographs - Gray Malin

RRP $69.99

$52.25

25%
OFF
Witchcraft. The Library of Esoterica : Library of Esoterica - Jessica Hundley
65,000 Years : A Short History of Australian Art - Marcia Langton

RRP $79.99

$53.40

33%
OFF
Tom Ford - Tom Ford

Hardcover

RRP $250.00

$173.25

31%
OFF
Elden Ring : Official Art Book : Volume II - FromSoftware

RRP $107.99

$15.25

86%
OFF
Yoshitomo Nara - Yeewan Koon

RRP $160.00

$98.95

38%
OFF
The Story of Art without Men : The instant Sunday Times bestseller - Katy Hessel
Bauhaus : Basic Arts Series - Magdalena Droste

RRP $39.99

$38.50

Expressionism : World of Art - Colin Rhodes

RRP $39.99

$31.75

21%
OFF
Understanding Comics : The Invisible Art - Scott McCloud

RRP $39.99

$26.75

33%
OFF
Wicked : The Story of Oz & the Wonderful Wizard: Replica Pop-Up - Insight Editions
Chanel : Collections and Creations : Collections and Creations - Danièle Bott
Interaction of Color : 50th Anniversary Edition - Josef Albers

RRP $28.95

$21.50

26%
OFF
Monster Hunter Illustrations - Capcom

RRP $80.99

$72.90

10%
OFF
Slim Aarons : Style - Shawn Waldron

RRP $140.00

$96.95

31%
OFF