An odalisque was a female slave or concubine in an Ottoman seraglio, especially the Imperial Harem of the sultan. The Odalisque became a highly inspiring subject for painters during the 19th century. The motif even contributed to an art movement called Orientalism. This term was used to qualify paintings that depited lifestyle in Middle East. Delacroix is one artist often associated with Orientalism. Henri Matisse visited the French colonies in North Africa (Algeria in 1906 and Morocco in 1912–13) where the brilliant light, exotic environment and Moorish architecture inspired a new body of work. His odalisques have been described by art historian Roger Benjamin as ‘elaborate fictions’ in which the artist re-created the image of the Islamic harem using French models posed in his Nice apartment. The fabrics, screens, carpets, furnishings and costuming recalled the exoticism of the ‘Orient’ and provided a theme for Matisse's preoccupation with the figure and elaborate pattern.
What Henri Matisse was looking for was, not only the Mediterranean light, but also another inspiration. As Aragon mentioned: "In Nice, there were people from all over the world, people who brought with them the dust of their own country, their habits and their traditions." From these immigrants, Matisse was offered plenty of models to work from, women that he would not have been able to find somewhere else, women from other parts of the world. The Middle East, Russia, South Mediterranean countries. These women became a symbol in his oeuvre.

Light Discolouration due to a previous frame. Some tape remain verso.