New York's MoMA exhibits Matisse's paintings within a painting

A visitor looks at Henri Matisse's "The Red Studio" (1911) at the The Museum of Modern Art in New York, as the museum announces an exhibition focusing on the genesis and history of the art work. Photo: AFP

When Henri Matisse painted The Red Studio in 1911 he portrayed 11 of his artworks on a single canvas. An exhibition in New York is about to display all the surviving works together for the first time.

In The Red Studio, the French artist reproduced almost a dozen miniature versions of his paintings and sculptures as a way to depict his workshop in the Paris suburbs - not to mention play with perspective, color, time and space.