At some point it stopped raining and Matisse painted View of the Bay of Tangier. ‘The old part of the city, the medina, is packed around a hill, and the artist chose a spot in the Casbah, the citadel of Tangier, for his view, probably from a terrace…houses and shops are built one against the other, solidly lining narrow, winding streets that snake around a hill. Except for the entry doors, homes rarely open onto the crowded streets. Rather, almost every house has an interior courtyard, which brings light and fresh air into the rooms, and a roof terrace, which affords both an open-air living area and privacy’ (Matisse in Morocco page 62). Things are of course different today, but the Tangier of Matisse is still recognisable.