Oil paint on canvas
Tate Collection
Works with images
General Collection
Contemporary Art Society
Collection
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/henri-matisse-1593" aria-label="More by Henri Matisse" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Henri Matisse</a>
Inattentive Reader
Bequeathed by Montague Shearman through the Contemporary Art Society 1940
actions: postures and motions
adults
birth to death
book - non-specific
chair
cities, towns, villages (non-UK)
contemplation
countries and continents
desk
domestic
emotions and human qualities
emotions, concepts and ideas
flower
France
furnishings
interior - non-specific
interiors
leisure and pastimes
mirror
Nice, Hotel de la Méditerranée
objects
people
places
plants and flowers
reading
reading, writing, printed matter
recreational activities
sitting
symbols and personifications
transience - flower
transience - mirror
woman
<p>Matisse painted this work during an extended stay in a hotel in Nice in the south of France. Although the woman was probably a professional model, Matisse creates a sense of casual intimacy, and uses details in this anonymous setting to touch on serious themes. The distracted reader assumes the head-in-hand pose traditionally associated with melancholy, while the flowers and mirror are reminders of the transience of life.</p><p><em>Gallery label, March 2003</em></p>
painting oil paint canvas
1 May 2000 – 19 September 2001
2001-09-19
1 May 2001 – 19 September 2001
2001-09-19
2001-05-01
Tate Modern (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/
2000-05-01
Intimate Lives
Collection based display
6 November 2001 – 26 May 2002
2002-05-26
6 November 2001 – 26 May 2002
2002-05-26
2001-11-06
Tate Modern (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/
2001-11-06
Henri Laurens and Henri Matisse
Collection based display
3 March 2003 – 2 November 2005
2005-11-02
3 March 2003 – 2 November 2005
2005-11-02
2003-03-03
Tate Modern (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/
2003-03-03
Still Life Introductory
Collection based display
21 June 2003 – 28 August 2007
2007-08-28
21 June 2003 – 28 August 2007
2007-08-28
2003-06-21
Tate Liverpool (Liverpool, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/liverpool/
2003-06-21
International Modern Art
Collection based display
24 September 2008 – 19 April 2009
2009-04-19
24 September 2008 – 11 January 2009
2009-01-11
2008-09-24
Staatsgalerie (Stuttgart, Germany)
http://www.staatsgalerie.de/
31 January 2009 – 19 April 2009
2009-04-19
2009-01-31
Bucerius Kunst Forum (Hamburg, Germany)
http://www.buceriuskunstforum.de
2008-09-24
Matisse - Menschen Masken Modelle
Loan-out
9 June 2009 – 20 September 2009
2009-09-20
9 June 2009 – 20 September 2009
2009-09-20
2009-06-09
Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza (Madrid, Spain)
2009-06-09
Matisse Between the Wars
Loan-out
14 May 2010 – 30 August 2010
2010-08-30
14 May 2010 – 30 August 2010
2010-08-30
2010-05-14
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2010-05-14
CAS 2
Collection based display
19 July 2013
19 July 2013
2013-07-19
Tate Liverpool (Liverpool, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/liverpool/
2013-07-19
Henri Matisse
Collection based display
20 November 2015 – 1 May 2016
2016-05-01
20 November 2015 – 1 May 2016
2016-05-01
2015-11-20
Tate Liverpool (Liverpool, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/liverpool/
2015-11-20
Matisse The Snail
Collection based display
22 June 2016 – 4 September 2016
2016-09-04
22 June 2016 – 4 September 2016
2016-09-04
2016-06-22
National Gallery (London, UK)
http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk
2016-06-22
Painters' Paintings
Loan-out
20 October 2018 – 6 January 2019
2019-01-06
20 October 2018 – 6 January 2019
2019-01-06
2018-10-20
Tate St Ives (St Ives, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/stives/
2018-10-20
Nashashibi/Skaer: Thinking through other artists
Exhibition
The Inattentive Reader
support: 730 × 924 mm
frame: 922 × 1110 × 90 mm
Bequeathed by Montague Shearman through the <a href="/search?gid=999999975" data-gtm-name="tombstone_link_bequest" data-gtm-destination="list-page--search-results">Contemporary Art Society</a> 1940
<p>Matisse painted this work during an extended stay in a hotel in Nice in the south of France. Although the woman was probably a professional model, Matisse creates a sense of casual intimacy, and uses details in this anonymous setting to touch on serious themes. The distracted reader assumes the head-in-hand pose traditionally associated with melancholy, while the flowers and mirror are reminders of the transience of life. 

</p>
Display caption
2003-03-31T00:00:00
display-caption
DISPLAY_CAPTION
<p><b>Henri Matisse</b><span> 1869-1954 </span>
<br/></p>
<p><span><a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/matisse-the-inattentive-reader-n05141" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N05141</span></a> </span><b>La Liseuse distraite</b><span> (The Inattentive Reader) 1919 </span>
<br/></p>
<p><span>Inscribed 'Henri-Matisse' b.l.</span>
<br/><span>Oil on canvas, 28 3/4 x 36 3/8 (73 x 92.5)</span>
<br/><span>Bequeathed by Montague Shearman through the CAS 1940</span>
<br/><i>Prov:</i><span>
With Bernheim-Jeune, Paris (purchased from the artist 2 March 1919); Montague Shearman, London, 12 June 1919</span>
<br/><i>Exh:</i><span>
</span><i>Oeuvres Récentes de Henri-Matisse</i><span>, Bernheim-Jeune, Paris, May 1919 (25), as 'La Liseuse distraite' 1919; </span><i>Pictures by Henri-Matisse and Sculptures by Maillol</i><span>, Leicester Galleries, London, November-December 1919 (33); </span><i>The CAS: Loan Exhibition of Modern Foreign Painting</i><span>, Colnaghi's Galleries, London, June-July 1924 (45); </span><i>The Montague Shearman Collection</i><span>, Redfern Gallery, London, April-May 1940 (11, repr. in colour); </span><i>The Tate Gallery's Wartime Acquisitions</i><span>, National Gallery, London, April-May 1942 (76); </span><i>Acquisitions of the CAS</i><span>, Tate Gallery, September-October 1946 (41)</span>
<br/><i>Lit:</i><span>
Alfred H. Barr, Jr., </span><i>Matisse: his Art and his Public</i><span>
(New York 1951), pp.196-7, 205-6; </span><i>Exhibition: The Memoirs of Oliver Brown</i><span> (London 1968), pp.63-4</span>
<br/><i>Repr:</i><span>
Jean Cassou, </span><i>Matisse</i><span>
(London 1948), pl.1 in colour; Arthur R. Howell, </span><i>The Meaning and Purpose of Art</i><span> (London 1957), frontispiece in colour </span>
<br/></p>
<p><span>Painted early in 1919 in the Hôtel de la Méditerranée at Nice; the same room and the same items of furniture appear in various other pictures of this period. Matisse regularly passed the winter months at Nice from December 1916 onwards, and during the winter of 1918-19 and the two succeeding years occupied rooms in the Hôtel de la Méditerranée on the Promenade des Anglais. Mme Duthuit said that the sitter for this picture was a professional model. </span>
<br/></p>
<p><b>Published in:</b>
<br/><span>Ronald Alley, </span><i>Catalogue of the Tate Gallery's Collection of Modern Art other than Works by British Artists</i><span>, Tate Gallery and Sotheby Parke-Bernet, London 1981, pp.497-8, reproduced p.497</span>
<br/></p>

Catalogue entry
2003-07-30T00:00:00
catalogue-entry
CATALOGUE_ENTRY
actions: postures and motions adults birth to death book - non-specific chair cities, towns, villages (non-UK) contemplation countries and continents desk domestic emotions and human qualities emotions, concepts and ideas flower France furnishings interior - non-specific interiors leisure and pastimes mirror Nice, Hotel de la Méditerranée objects people places plants and flowers reading reading, writing, printed matter recreational activities sitting symbols and personifications transience - flower transience - mirror woman