Matisse
The world in a room
08 October 2026 – 21 February 2027
Mudec – Museo delle Culture di Milano
In Milan, MUDEC presents “Matisse. The World in a Room”, an exhibition project that explores the deep connection between Henri Matisse (Le Cateau-Cambrésis, 1869 – Nice, 1954) and the cultures he encountered through his studies and travels beyond European borders.
The exhibition investigates a central issue that has long remained in the background: the role that African, Islamic, Russian, Pacific, and Chinese art played in shaping Matisse’s language, helping to redefine the boundaries of Western modernism.
The exhibition, produced by 24 ORE Cultura – Gruppo Il Sole 24 ORE and promoted by the Municipality of Milan – Culture, is organized in collaboration with the Musée Matisse in Nice and is supported by Unipol as Main Sponsor, with Turisanda1924 (the exclusive travel brand of Alpitour World), Enel, and BPER Banca acting as Sponsors.
Curated by Ellen McBreen and Chiara Gatti, the exhibition layout is developed across eight thematic sections and brings together around 100 works—including paintings, works on paper, and sculptures—from major international institutions. Lenders include the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Pierre and Tana Matisse Foundation Collection in New York, the MoMA, the Musée de l’Orangerie, the Musée Picasso, the Musée d’Orsay, the Musée du Quai Branly, the Bargello Museum in Florence, and MUDEC itself.
Alongside the artworks, a selection of objects and textiles—fundamental presences in the artist’s imagination—reflects the richness of Matisse’s dialogues with distant cultures and traditions. Coming from the Musée Matisse in Nice, the Museum of Civilizations (Museum of Rome), and other institutions, these artifacts allow visitors to deepen their understanding of the role of forms, decorative motifs, and materials in his research.
Particular attention is devoted to major decorative projects and artist’s books: from the monumental diptych Océanie to the celebrated plates of Jazz, from Mallarmé’s Poésies to Montherlant’s Pasiphaé, up to the preparatory drawings for the Rosary Chapel in Vence, the mature synthesis of Matisse’s artistic research. The itinerary is enriched by period photographs, including several previously unpublished shots taken by the artist himself in Morocco.
Matisse. The World in a Room offers an opportunity to critically reread concepts such as otherness, primitivism, and orientalism, fitting into the contemporary debate on the relationships between modern art, nationalism, and colonial culture. The exhibition stems from recent and partly unpublished research, inviting visitors to look at Matisse’s work from a broader perspective, attentive to the cultural exchanges that accompanied its evolution.
What distinguishes the project is the precision with which it reconstructs these encounters, avoiding reducing them to a generic “oriental” imaginary or a single area of influence. In fact, diverse suggestions coexist within Matisse’s visual universe: Islamic arabesques, the geometries of Romanian costumes, Yoruba Gelede masks, and medieval Russian icons.
Following these traces means going beyond the immediate elegance of his works to grasp their complexity, tensions, and ambiguities. It is precisely from the encounter between distant worlds that a visual language was born, capable of challenging conventions and leaving a deep mark on twentieth-century art.
October 8th, 2026 – February 21st, 2027
Monday 2:30 pm – 7:30 pm
Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday 9:30 am – 7:30 pm
Thursday 9:30 am – 10:30 pm
LAST ENTRY ONE HOUR BEFORE CLOSING TIME
Mudec – Museo delle Culture
Via Tortona 56, Milan
Henri Matisse
Nu assis de dos (1918)
Oil on canvas, 62,2 x 47,1 cm
Philadelphia Museum of Art: The Samuel S. White 3rd and Vera White Collection
© Photograph courtesy of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
Henri Matisse
Jeunes filles au jardin (1919)
Oil on canvas, 54,5 x 65 cm
Musée des beaux-arts La Chaux-de-Fonds – LA CHAUX-DE-FONDS
Henri Matisse
Odalisque (1925)
Oil on canvas, 46 x 38,5 cm
Milan, Museo del Novecento, Jucker Collection
© Copyright Municipality of Milan.
All rights reserved. Marco Bertoli-Milano Photo Studio @studiomarcobertoli
