The Young Sailor II

Matisse painted two versions of this painting, this one having sharper lines and brighter colors than the first version. Although the title is “The Young Sailor,” the model for the painting was actually an 18 year old fisherman named Germain Augustin Barthelemy Montarges. The piece was painted in at Matisse’s home in Coillioure, during what was to be known as his fauve summer, during which he had been painting self-portraits when he convinced the young fisherman to pose for him. The painting now hangs in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, where it is one of the most prized of the painting in the museum.