Matisse’s Femme au chapeau: 1905 to Today

Author: Janet Bishop, Maria Castro, Henri Matisse, Christopher Bedford, Alison Guh
Format: Hardcover | 144 pages
Dimensions: 21.59 x 1.60 x 26.70 cm 
Publication date: 26 May 2026

Tracing the influence of Matisse's landmark Fauvist painting over 120 years. Published in association with the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

Henri Matisse's Femme au chapeau (Woman with a Hat) stood at the heart of a turning point in modern art history. When it was first shown at the 1905 Salon d'Automne in Paris, it stirred fierce debate and went on to become a defining image of Fauvism, the first French avant-garde movement of the 20th century. The work was also a turning point in Matisse's own career, drawing the interest of American collectors Leo and Gertrude Stein, who bought it on the exhibition's final day. It later passed to their brother and sister-in-law, Michael and Sarah Stein, who carried it across the Atlantic to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1935. Early the following year, the painting was exhibited in the United States for the first time at the San Francisco Museum of Art (today SFMOMA). Since joining the museum's collection in 1991, it has kept inspiring contemporary artists, who draw on its daring use of color and form.

This book explores in unmatched detail how this portrait of Matisse's wife, Amélie, left its mark on the history of art. Placing Matisse in conversation with those who came before him, his peers, his collaborators, and those who followed, it investigates the painting's historical setting and its influence across more than 120 years.

Henri Matisse (1869–1954) was a central figure of the Parisian avant-garde. He broke new ground with vivid, expressive color, energetic brushwork, and flattened pictorial space. He frequently brought his strikingly modern approach to classic subjects such as still lifes, landscapes, and portraits, conveying a sense of enduring joy and calm.