Henri Matisse—who revolutionized 20th-century art—believed that a treasured group of objects was instrumental to his studio practice. “Matisse in the Studio” was the first major international exhibition to examine the importance of Matisse’s personal collection of objects, offering unprecedented insight into the great artist's creativity.

The window figured prominently in Matisse’s paintings. This architectural apparatus functioned as a way of collapsing foreground, middle ground, and background, connecting disparate objects in his domestic settings. In this show, the window allows visitors the opportunity to see the objects collaged with one another as they move throughout the exhibit. The window also affords the visitor the ability to encounter the same object from different vantage points, at different moments of the show. The viewer gets to enact the same kind of re-discovery that Matisse did with these objects throughout his life.