A huge collection of rarely seen Matisse paintings has been donated to this European museum

Calling all modern art fans: you might want to add visiting the Musée d’Art Moderne (MAM) in Paris to your 2026 to-do list, as the gallery has received a huge donation of mostly unseen Matisse artworks to add to its collection.

Henri Matisse may have died in the 1950s, but like any real artist, he created so much during his lifetime that there’s still plenty left to discover 70 years later. The French modernist is best known for his colourful, expressive paintings from the early twentieth century, but the pieces which have just been donated are portraits of his daughter Marguerite.

In total, 61 artworks have been donated to the museum, which is three times the amount that it previously had in its permanent collection. With this addition, MAM will be home to 81 works from Matisse.

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Marguerite is the subject of almost all of the donated sketches, which range from paintings of her as a young child in 1901 to simple sketches from her 20s. Lithographs, illustrated books, and a sculpture are also included.

The illegitimate daughter of Matisse and Caroline Joblau, a model that Matisse had a relationship with before meeting his wife, Marguerite grew up with her father and would eventually become his agent. After his death, she spent years cataloguing and collecting his works until her own passing in 1982, so she was a significant figure in both the artist’s lifetime and in securing his legacy.

The works were originally on loan from Barbara Dauphin Duthuit, who was married to Matisse’s late grandson, for an exhibition last summer called Matisse and Marguerite: Through Her Father's Eyes. When it closed, however, Duthuit opted to gift her collection to the museum for good, instead of taking it back home to New York.

The Musée d’Art Moderne described the donation as ‘extraordinarily generous’, saying that it is testament to ‘a deep commitment on the part of Madame Duthuit, and to her confidence in the museum, which effectively becomes Marguerite’s new home for the decades and centuries to come’.

Art and culture to see in Paris this year

The French capital came top of Time Out’s list of the world’s best cities for culture in 2025, and it’s not slowing down this year.

Come summer, the Pont Neuf – Paris’s oldest bridge – will be encased in a cavelike immersive artwork, a once-in-a-lifetime experience we named the best new thing to do in the world this year. And while the Centre Pompidou sadly shut for refurbishments last year, a new branch of the Fondation Cartier is now open for business. Its inaugural exhibition runs through August, showcasing over 600 works of contemporary art from the museum’s collection, including David Lynch and Damien Hirst.

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This European capital has opened two new ‘museum stations’ packed with archaeological treasures.