3. The Museum mounted Matisse’s first solo show in the U.S.
In 1931, the museum put on the first solo show of works by Henri Matisse in the United States. It also happened to be the museum’s first monographic exhibition. The show featured more than 130 works, including paintings, sculptures, watercolors, drawings, and prints. For many New Yorkers, it was their first direct encounter with Matisse’s work. Matisse was not able to attend the exhibition, but sent a personal note to the show’s curator, Museum director Alfred H. Barr Jr., praising the “perfect installation” and sketching two nudes in Barr’s catalogue.
Today, The MoMA has one of the world’s most comprehensive collections of Matisse’s work and one of the paintings that was exhibited in his 1931 solo show is still on view. Look for The Moroccans in Gallery 506.
