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Since the spring of 2025, the Musée d’Art Moderne in Paris has been presenting a remarkable exhibition dedicated to the relationship between one of the greatest artists of the 20th century, Henri Matisse (1869–1954), and his eldest daughter, Marguerite Duthuit-Matisse (1894–1982).

Titled Matisse and Marguerite: Through Her Father’s Eyes (April 4 – August 24, 2025, Musée d’Art Moderne, Paris), the exhibition brings together over 110 works – including paintings, drawings, prints, sculptures, and ceramics – that reflect the artist’s unique connection to his daughter, a quiet yet central figure in his family and artistic life.

The exhibition features numerous drawings rarely or never shown to the public, along with major works on loan from American, Swiss, and Japanese collections, being presented in France for the first time. In addition to Matisse’s work, visitors will see photographs, archival materials, and paintings created by Marguerite herself, offering a deeper look into the life of a woman who largely remained in the shadow of her famous father.

Throughout Matisse’s career—from Marguerite’s childhood to the end of the Second World War—she was his most constant model, the only one to appear consistently in his work for several decades. His portraits of her are filled with emotional immediacy and deep intimacy, expressing tenderness, respect, and artistic fascination. For Matisse, Marguerite was more than a model—she was a mirror of himself, the ideal subject through whom he could achieve what he called the “almost complete identification of painter and model.”

Organized chronologically, this exhibition highlights the strength of family bonds, mutual trust, and creative exchange between father and daughter. At the same time, it reveals the extraordinary life of a woman who, though reserved, played a pivotal role in her father’s artistic evolution and was a witness to the turbulent history they lived through together.