"La Revelation m'est venue de l'Orient" Henri Matisse

Abstract

This Master's thesis will analyze Matisse's complex relation to the Orient. In 1947, Hemi Matisse was a recognized avant garde painter, after having deeply reflected on his painting he declared: "The Revelation came to me from the Orient." What does Matisse mean when he makes such a confession? What kind of Orient does he refer to? This thesis will define Matisse's fascination for the Orient. It will also explain why he escaped twentieth century critical Orientalist theory. To achieve this we will present the aesthetic and cultural climate in which Matisse discovered and learnt to appreciate Islamic and Byzantine art. The fundamental role it played in the formation of his aesthetic as a painter. In a second step we will focus on Matisse's "Oriental" voyages which confirmed his earlier Oriental lessons. In a third step we will present Matisse's relation to a thematic Orient, an Orient from memory with the odalisques. We will conclude by realizing that the reference to the Orient became a leitmotif through out the painter's career and manifested itself both esthetically and thematically. This thesis will fill in a gap in our understanding of Matisse's unique relation to the Orient.