The discovery some years ago of Henri Matisse's signature in the visitors' book of the Alhambra has been the starting point for the research work, whose subject was the reconstruction of the motivation of Matisse's journey to Spain, with stages in Madrid, Seville, Cordoba, Granada, Toledo and Barcelona, as well as the influence of the experience of this journey in his work. The result of the studies will be shown in the exhibition Matisse and The Alhambra. The exhibition is also supported by the family of Matisse, especially by Claude and Barbara Duthuit, and by the establishment of a Scientific Committee with some of the most outstanding experts in Henri Matisse's work, such as Pierre Schnieder, Remi Labrusse and Isabel Monod-Fontaine, and others.
In parallel to the exhibition, two series of conferences will take place in Madrid (Caixa Forum) and Granada (Palace of Charles V), with the participation of the most important pundits in Matisse's work. Matisse and the Alhambra 1910-2010, with a division into five sections (Matisse and the Alhambra, Matisse and Morocco, Nice, The Odalisques and Last Varitions) is a contribution to the knowledge of Matisse's life and work in his last years. Forty internationally renowned institutions such as The Hermitage Museum, MoMA in New York, The Metropolitan Museum, the Louvre, The Victoria and Albert Museum and the Pushkin Museum in Moscow, and private collectors, such as the Baroness Thyssen-Bornemisza and Claude and Barbara Duthuit, heirs of the French painter, give their support to the project, whose organisation has been very complex for the number of loans and their varied geographic location.
