Young Woman at the Window, Sunset

1920

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Henri Matisse

Young Woman at the Window, Sunset

Henri Matisse

Young Woman at the Window, Sunset

1920

Physical Qualities Oil on canvas, Unframed: 20 11/16 × 20 5/8 × 7/8 in. (52.5 × 52.4 × 2.2 cm.) Framed: 27 3/8 × 30 5/8 × 3 in. (69.5 × 77.8 × 7.6 cm.)

Credit Line The Cone Collection, formed by Dr. Claribel Cone and Miss Etta Cone of Baltimore, Maryland

Object Number 1950.245

In this painting, Matisse has posed Henriette Darricarrère at the window of the studio, looking down at the buildings beyond the Nice promenade. Throughout his career, Matisse used models to provide inspiration for his art. He often developed close relationships with them and depended on them for extended periods of time. Their individual personalities and interests contributed greatly to the works in which they appear. In 1939, after working with live models for over 40 years, the artist described their importance to him: “My models, human figures, are never just ‘extras’ in an interior. They are the principal theme of my work. I depend absolutely on my model, whom I observe at liberty, and then I decide on the pose which best suits her nature . . . . I often keep those girls for several years, until my interest is exhausted . . . . Their forms are not always perfect, but they are always expressive. The emotional interest they inspire in me is not particularly apparent in the representation of their bodies, but often rather by the lines or the special values distributed over the whole canvas, or paper, and which form its orchestration, its architecture. But not everyone perceives this. It is perhaps sublimated voluptuousness, something that may not yet be decipherable to everyone.”

The Baltimore Museum of Art by bequest, 1949; Claribel or Etta Cone, Baltimore, by purchase, 1923; Galerie Bernheim-Jeune, Paris

Galerie Bernheim-Jeune, Paris, "Exposition Henri-Matisse", February 23, 1922-March 15, 1922, no. 18. (Exhibited as "Jeune Fille à la Fenêtre au Soleil Couchant")

Galerie Bernheim-Jeune, Paris, "On Propose…", February 27, 1923-March 14, 1923, no. 12. (Exhibited as "Jeune Fille à la Fenêtre, Soleil Couchant")

Adelyn D. Breeskin, The Baltimore Museum of Art, "Cone Collection of Modern Paintings and Sculpture", April 1, 1930-December 1, 1930, no. 19. (Exhibited as "Girl at Window")

Gertrude Rosenthal, The Baltimore Museum of Art, "Selections from the Cone Collection", October 7, 1949-December 31, 1949, no. 48. (Exhibited as "Girl at the Window; Sunset")

Brenda Richardson, The Baltimore Museum of Art, "Matisse in the Collection of The Baltimore Museum of Art", circulated to The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, August 24, 1979-October 14, 1979.

Jack Cowart and Dominique Fourcade, The National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, "Henri Matisse The Early Years in Nice 1916-1930", November 2, 1986-March 29, 1987, no. 107. (Exhibited as "Jeune femme à la fenêtre, soleil couchant/Young Woman at the Window, Sunset")

Brain Trust Inc., Isetan Museum of Art, Tokyo, "Matisse and Modern Masters from the Cone Collection of The Baltimore Museum of Art", October 3, 1996-December 28, 1996, no. 18; circulated to the Osaka Municipal Museum of Art, January 8, 1997-February 11, 1997.

Musée Matisse, Nice, "Henri Matisse: la Dissolution du Trait", July 1, 2011-October 2, 2011.

The Baltimore Museum of Art, "Cone Collection of Modern Paintings and Sculpture," Baltimore: The Baltimore Museum of Art, 1930, p. 5, no. 19. (Published as "Girl at Window")

Etta Cone, "The Cone Collection of Baltimore-Maryland," Baltimore: Etta Cone, 1934, p. 24, pl. 48, ill. (Published as "Jeune Fille à la Fenêtre, Soleil Couchant")

George Boas, Adelyn D. Breeskin, and J.G. D'Arcy Paul, "Selections from the Cone Collection," "News of The Baltimore Museum of Art," October 1949, vol. 13, no. 1, p. 16. (Published as "Girl at the Window; Sunset")

"$3,000,000 Art Collection," "Look," April 25, 1950, vol. 14, no. 9, p. 104, ill. p. 104.

Alfred H. Barr, Jr., "Matisse: His Art and His Public," New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 1951, p. 557. (Published as "Girl at the Window; Sunset")

George Boas, Adelyn Breeskin, and Gertrude Rosenthal, "Cone Collection: A Handbook with a Catalogue of Paintings and Sculpture," Baltimore: The Baltimore Museum of Art, 1955, p. 34, no. 60. (Published as "Girl at the Window, Sunset")

Barbara Pollack, "The Collectors: Dr. Claribel and Miss Etta Cone," Indianapolis: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Inc., p. 146, ill. p. 172. (Published as "Girl at the Window, Sunset")

George Boas, Adelyn Breeskin, and Gertrude Rosenthal, "Paintings, Sculpture, and Drawings in the Cone Collection," Baltimore: The Baltimore Museum of Art, 1967, p. 67, no. 57. (Published as "Girl at the Window, Sunset")

Pierre Schneider, Massimo Carrà and Xavier Derying, "Tout l'Oeuvre Peint de Matisse 1904-1928," Paris: Flammarion, 1982, pp. 101, 114, no. 366, ill. (Published as "Jeune Fille à La Fenêtre, Soleil Couchant")

Brenda Richardson, "Dr. Claribel & Miss Etta: The Cone Collection of The Baltimore Museum of Art," Baltimore: The Baltimore Museum of Art, 1985, pp. 26, 173, 198, p. 26, ill.

Jack Cowart and Dominique Fourcade, "Henri Matisse The Early Years in Nice 1916-1930," New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1987, pp. 170, 310, 334, no. 107, ill. (Published as "Jeune femme à la fenêtre, soleil couchant/ Young Woman at the Window, Sunset")

Jacqueline and Maurice Guillaud, "Matisse: Le Rythme et la Ligne," Paris: Guillaud Editions, 1987, pp. 150, 645, no. 166, ill. (Published as "Jeune fille à la fenêtre, soleil couchant")

Guy-Patrice and Michel Dauberville, "Henri Matisse Chez Bernheim-Jeune, vols. 1-2" Paris: Éditions Bernheim-Jeune, 1995, pp. 110, 115, 1059, 1440, no. 511, ill. (Published as "Jeune fille à la fenêtre, soleil couchant")

Nobuyuki Senzoku and Akira Tomita, "Matisse and Modern Masters from the Cone Collection of The Baltimore Museum of Art," Tokyo: Brain Trust Inc., 1996, pp. 67, 158, no. 18, ill.

Charles Darwent, "Double Vision," "The Independent," June 17, 2001, p. 20.

Jack Flam, "Matisse in the Cone Collection: The Poetics of Vision," Baltimore: The Baltimore Museum of Art, 2001, pp. 19, 63, 65, pl. 26, ill.

Catherine Bock-Weiss, "Henri Matisse: Modernist Against the Grain," University Park, PA: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 2009, p. 89, fig. 20, ill.

David Chpperfield Architects and John Morgan, ""Spruchgedicht: Am Fenster," Dornbirn, Austria: Zumtobel AG, 2013, p.49, color ill.

Stavitsky, Gail, John Cauman, William C. Agee, et al. Matisse and American Art. Montclair, NJ: Montclair Art Museum, 2017, page 109.

Cozzi, Leslie and Katherine Rothkopf (eds). "A Modern Influence: Henri Matisse, Etta Cone, and Baltimore." Baltimore: The Baltimore Museum of Art, 2021. ill.

Inscribed: Recto: Lower right in brown paint, "Henri-Matisse" Verso: Central support in black grease pencil, "12196" Middle of central support in black grease pencil, "M-11" Middle of central support, square browned paper label in dark ink, "N°22966/Henri-Matisse/Femme devant la fenetre/R0000" Bottom of central support in black grease pencil, "22966" Frame Inscriptions Verso: Left vertical rail in black grease pencil, "345"