Created in 1942, ‘Tête de femme avec voile’ is an exemplar of Matisse’s use of elegant, expressive line. In the 1930s the artist turned from detail to a formal simplicity, in which he contrasted clean concise lines with decadent subject matters: the principal being the female nude. Depictions of these models became series, grouped by their setting, pose, decoration and varying level of costume. These composition are amongst Matisse’s most poetic, with their quiet sophistication and purity formed through fluid line.

‘Tête de femme avec voile’ is from Matisse’s 1942 series of paintings and drawings of women behind veils. Created in the midst of the Second World War when he was living in Nice with his muse Lydia Delectorskaya, the drawing reveals the influence of Matisse’s earlier travels to Algeria and Morocco in the early 1900s. The manner in which he has drawn the woman’s face, and her costume, is reminiscent of those seen in the artist’s ‘exotic’ odalisques of the 1920s such as ‘Odalisque in a Moorish Chair’ (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York) and ‘Young Woman with a Veil’ (Art Institute of Chicago). In ‘Tête de femme avec voile’ luxury and sensuality are present in abundance through the flowing fabric of her veil and her captivating eyes.

This period was one of immense change for Matisse, having being diagnosed with duodenal cancer the year prior. The effects of the illness and then surgery made it so that he could only really concentrate on drawing. Matisse used drawing to accomplish the first stage of the transition from direct observation to abstraction, giving way to a new artistic freedom. The lithe, expressive drawings that he made reveal his exceptional creative abilities in the final years of his life.