This picture belongs to the period in his career when Matisse was under the strong influence of Fauvism. This is evidenced by the vivid, expressive manner of painting, with contrasting colors and thick black contour lines that create a border between the figure of the Spanish woman and the background. The apparently naive expressive language of this work calls to mind crudely painted folk sculptures.

Signed and dated, bottom left: Henri Matisse,

1909 Pushkin Museum, inv. no. 3297

Provenance:

Bemheim-Jeune Gallery, Paris;

Shchukin collection, Moscow;

1918, First Museum of Modern Western Painting. Moscow;

1923, Museum of Modem Western Art. Moscow;

since 1948, Pushkin Museum. Moscow.