Watch A Model for Matisse

A Model for Matisse looks at the life of Monique Bourgeois and her relationship with the artist Henri Matisse. They met in the early 1940s. She was only 21-years-old when she took the job of his nurse. Within a short time, she joined the Dominican Order and took the name Sister Jacques-Marie. Over the years, she modeled for him several times. Mr. Matisse perhaps looked at their relationship with romantic longings, but it remained more of a lifelong friendship. One of their most important collaborations was the Chapelle du Rosaire de Vence, or Chapel of the Rosary, a chapel created for the Dominican Sisters.

This movie is one half biographical sketch and one half historical overview. Each half plays an important part in an interesting look at a unique relationship.