In The Moorish Screen, a pair of women in white and pink dresses stand and sit in front of two panels of cotton tapestry with embroidery that imitates the fretwork of North African architectural screens. While the fireplace, bedstead, and two tables locate us in an ordinary bedroom, the layered screen, rugs, and wallpaper infuse the picture with the tension of color and repeated pattern.

In the early 1900s, Henri Matisse became an avid collector of embellished functional artifacts, such as rugs, wall hangings, and ceramic tiles, from Spain, North Africa, and other parts of the Islamic world. He turned to them while developing a decorative type of painting that was meant to pull the viewer from tangible reality toward an ethereal realm of sensation and emotion. Here the screen blurs our perception of the real space of the room by blocking the view of its corner.