This work was completed in 1911 in the artists studio at Issy-les-Moulineaux in the suburbs of Paris. Matisse painted the goldfish motif more than a dozen times between 1911 and 1915. In each painting he changed the shape and location of the aquarium and its surroundings. This example is one of the most famous of his variations on the theme. Elderfield listed six paintings with an aquarium and goldfish, including this one. He attributed to this series Goldfish in the Museum of Modem Art, New York (1911): Goldfish in the Copenhagen State Art Museum (1912): Goldfish from the Barnes collec- tion in Merion, Pennsylvania (1912); Zorah on the Terrace (1913. Pushkin Museum): and Arab Coffeehouse (1912-1913. Hermitage).

On the basis of S. Shchukins letter to Matisse of August 22, 1912. in which Shchukin inquires of the painter whether he sent him his paintings from Paris to Moscow. Barr dated the Pushkin Museum picture to 1912; Elderfield wrote that Madame Duthuit dated the Pushkin Museum painting to 1911. Escholier has called this painting Bocal de Poissons dans la Serre.

Pushkin Museum, inv. no. 3299

Provenance:

1912 bought by S. Shchukin from Matisse. Paris;

1912 Shchukin collec- tion. Moscow;

1918 First Museum of Mod- em Western Painting. Moscow;

1923 Museum of Modern Western Art Moscow;

since 1948. Pushkin Museum. Moscow.