The late Wanda de Guébriant confirmed the authenticity of this work.

Matisse met Monique Bourgeois in 1942 when he was recovering from intestinal cancer in Nice. Weakened by his hospitalization, he was searching for an agreeable student nurse to tend to him and keep him company. So began their friendship: for several months, Monique assisted Matisse, read to him, philosophized with him, and eventually began to model for him.

In 1943, Matisse moved to Vence, a quieter town a few kilometers away from Nice. Chance reunited him with Monique, who had moved to a Dominican-run rest home a few minutes away from his new villa to convalesce from a past tuberculosis infection that permanently weakened her health.

Monique’s faith asserted itself during this time and she eventually joined the Dominican order as Sister Jacques-Marie. A few years later, Matisse built the Rosary Chapel for Monique and her Dominican Sisters in Vence. Completed in 1951, he described it as a masterpiece and the result of his life’s work; today, it stands as a monument to the artist’s gratitude for his beloved nurse.

Matisse drew this impressive portrait of Monique in October of 1942, while she was still assisting him as a night nurse in Nice. Monique is dressed in an ample yet revealing evening gown, which exposes her bare arms, decorated with ornaments at the wrist. She is comfortably seated in a sculpted armchair, facing the artist at a three-quarter angle. Her voluptuous figure agreeably fills the seat while her relaxed yet directed gaze gives her an air of confidence. This ease, paired with her statuesque features, adds to the overall sense of majesty embodied in her figure.

Matisse chose to portray Monique in a dignified classical posture which is reminiscent of Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres’s portraits. Yet, through his light and seemingly spontaneous pencil strokes, Matisse creates an air of movement which is both extremely modern and entirely his own. This movement brings the drawing to life and gives us insight into what his subject is feeling. Through the motions of Monique’s head, her dress’s motif and her soft smile, it is pure life and joy that emanate off the paper.

This drawing has been part of the Robert and Beatrice Mayer Family Collection since 1944, when the family acquired it directly from Matisse. It has ranked as a jewel among their works on paper collection for nearly a century, standing as a testament to Matisse’s draftsmanship and the profound relationship he built with Monique at the end of his life.