81.3 x 59 cm (32 x 23 1/4 in.)
Oil on canvas

Inscriptions: Lower left: Henri Matisse

Classification: Paintings
Type, sub-type: Portrait - Double; Self - Male; Female; Figure; Nude

On view in the: Charlotte F. and Irving W. Rabb Gallery (20th-century Modernism)

Matisse represented the female nude many times, both in painting and in sculpture. In this striking early work, the rounded forms of Carmelina's body, strongly modeled in light and dark, stand out almost in relief against the pattern of rectangular shapes behind her. The subject of the nude, usually relaxed and seductive, here becomes a confrontation between the boldly posed model and the artist, who is visible in the mirror at the back of the studio.

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Tompkins Collection—Arthur Gordon Tompkins Fund
Accession number: RES.32.14

Provenance/Ownership History: Please note: The history of ownership is not definitive or comprehensive, as it is under constant review and revision by MFA curators and researchers.

By 1912, Bernheim-Jeune, Paris [see note 1]. 1931, Baron Shigetaro Fukushima (b. 1895 - d. 1960), Paris; 1931, sold by Fukushima, through the Pierre Matisse Gallery, New York, to the MFA for $10,050 [see note 2]. (Accession Date: February 4, 1932)

NOTES:
[1] Bernheim-Jeune et Cie. lent the painting to the "Second Post-Impressionist Exhibition" (Grafton Galleries, London, October 5 - December 31, 1912), cat. no. 9.
[2] MFA accession numbers RES.32.2-RES.32.18 were purchased together for $10,050.

© 1903 Succession H. Matisse, Paris / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

This object is included in the following Selected Tour(s):

• All European Paintings
• French Paintings
• Highlights of European Paintings
• MFA Images: Nudes
• A new gallery for European Modernism