Henri Matisse
Femme au Chapeau
1905
Exhibited at the 1905 Salon d'Automne where it detonated the term 'Fauves' (wild beasts), Henri Matisse's 'Woman with a Hat' is a portrait of his wife Amélie rendered in disorientingly arbitrary colour — green and violet on the cheeks, blazing oranges and reds in the hat and background — scandalising critics who had expected likeness. The picture was bought by the Stein siblings, Gertrude and Leo, and hung in their Paris apartment, where it became a battleground of the Picasso–Matisse rivalry. Given to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art in 1990, it is a cornerstone of SFMOMA's collection.
Exhibition Venue
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Image source: Wikimedia Commons