Since 1963 the rooms of the Villa des Arènes, a Genovese residence from the 17th century have been the home of the Matisee Museum. The museum's permanent collection now includes 68 paintings and cut gouaches, 236 drawings, 218 engravings, 57 sculptures representing nearly all of Matisse's sculptural output, 14 illustrated books, not to mention 95 photographs and 187 objects that belonged to the painter along with various silkscreen prints, tapestries, ceramics, stained-glass, and documents. The museum's keypoint lies in the fact that it offers the visitor the possibility of retracing Matisse's artistic evolution, his progress and research in the fields of color and graphic art. In addition, the museum collection brings together a number of Matisse's personal effects that appear in many of his works, either as the main subject of a composition or as a decorative element. The visitor can thus penetrate the painter's creative intimacy.