A rare chance to stand inches from Henri Matisse’s own hand is about to run out in Morris County. Henri Matisse: Beyond Color closes at the Morris Museum on Sunday, August 9, 2026, giving art lovers just over three weeks to catch it.
The exhibition gathers 71 drawings from the more than 200 surviving sheets in the Mourlot archive, on loan from the Mourlot Collection. Matisse created the works alongside master lithographer Fernand Mourlot while producing 13 artist books of poetry that defined the final two decades of his career, and several of the pieces on view have never been exhibited before.
Beyond Color follows literary themes of love, beauty, mortality, and sensuality across the drawings, and traces one of the great second acts in modern art. The show explores Matisse’s perilous situation at the outbreak of World War II, including the confiscation of his property and the health crisis and long convalescence that reshaped his working life. It opened to the public on April 12 and has anchored the museum’s spring and summer season.
The Morris Museum is a Smithsonian Affiliate at 6 Normandy Heights Road in Morristown. Hours and admission are at morrismuseum.org.
Looking for more nearby? See our roundup of things to do in Morris County this weekend, and mark August 13 for Art on the Lawn at the Morristown and Morris Township Library.
Image courtesy of the Morris Museum.
