Femme au chapeau (Woman with a Hat)

Henri Matisse ignited passionate controversy when he debuted this portrait at the 1905 Salon d'Automne in Paris. The painting depicts his wife Amélie, rendered in patches of wild colorful brushstrokes that purposefully departed from observed reality.

Critics were outraged. Louis Vauxcelles famously called Matisse and his colleagues "les fauves" (wild beasts), inadvertently naming the Fauvism movement. Gertrude and Leo Stein purchased the controversial work for 500 francs, boosting Matisse's morale after the harsh criticism.

The painting eventually made its way to San Francisco through Michael and Sarah Stein in 1935. SFMOMA received it as a bequest in 1991. By terms of the gift, the painting cannot travel, making SFMOMA the only place to see this foundational work of modern art.