The Music Lesson

Henri Matisse

Oil on canvas

Barnes Foundation

The Music Lesson (French: La leçon de musique) is a monumental oil on canvas painted by Henri Matisse in the summer of 1917 at the family home in Issy-les-Moulineaux, France. The work is a large-scale family portrait depicting Matisse's wife, daughter Marguerite, and sons Pierre and Jean gathered around a Pleyel piano, with an open window revealing a lush garden beyond. Rendered in a richly colored, naturalistic interior style, it represents a deliberate counterpart to the more abstract and Cubist-influenced The Piano Lesson of the preceding year. Matisse's own violin, prominently placed on the piano, serves as a subtle self-referential element within this warmly observed domestic scene.