Henri Matisse, Jeunes filles au jardin, 1919. Oil on canvas, 54.5 x 65 cm. Musée des beaux-arts La Chaux-de-Fonds

8 OCTOBER 2026 – 21 FEBRUARY 2027

Matisse. The World in a Room: the artist’s gaze beyond Europe

The Mudec presents Matisse. The World in a Room, an exhibition exploring the bond between Henri Matisse and the cultures he encountered through study and travel outside Europe. Curated by Ellen McBreen and Chiara Gatti, it is produced by 24 ORE Cultura and promoted by the City of Milan, in collaboration with the Musée Matisse in Nice.

Around one hundred paintings, works on paper and sculptures, arranged in eight sections, show how African, Islamic, Russian, Chinese and Oceanic art helped shape his visual language. Lenders include the Philadelphia Museum of Art, MoMA, the Musée d’Orsay and the Musée du Quai Branly.

The works are joined by objects and textiles, the large decorative projects and the artist’s books, from Océanie to the plates of Jazz, the preparatory drawings for the Chapel of the Rosary in Vence and period photographs, some never shown before, taken by the artist in Morocco.

The exhibition invites visitors to look again, from today’s perspective, at notions such as otherness, primitivism and orientalism.

Full details on the official exhibition page.

OPENING HOURS
Monday 14.30–19.30

Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday 9.30–19.30

Thursday 9.30–22.30

Mudec – Museo delle Culture, Via Tortona 56, 20144 Milan