Henri Matisse: the Vence Chapel

Sister Jacques-Marie, born Monique Bourgeois, entered the service of Henri Matisse as a night nurse after the latter was diagnosed with cancer at the age of 72. The two struck up a close friendship and the young Bourgeois even posed for several drawings and paintings. Five years later, in 1943, the two were reunited when both living by chance in Vence, in the South of France. Bourgeois, who was in the process of taking her perpetual vow, lived among an order of Dominican nuns who were in desperate need of a chapel. When she showed her sketches to her friend Matisse, he was persuaded to lend his highly experienced eye to the design of the chapel, and thus began a creative collaboration that culminated in his final masterpiece. Every element, from its stark white exteriors to its stained glass windows, murals, and even its brightly coloured priests' vestments, was developed by Matisse together with the now Sister Jacques-Marie. Reproductions of drawings by Matisse, previously unpublished archival photographs and excerpts of letters exchanged with the artist provide a complete inside story of this great artistic achievement.