In May 1918, Matisse and his son moved to the Villa des Alliés, a small house situated high in the hills above Nice. The beauty of the views from the house inspired the artist to paint a series of landscapes such as this example. Matisse quickly established a new daily routine for his landscape paintings, rising early to capture the most favourable light. As he noted in a letter to Charles Camoin dated 23rd May 1918: "What I see everyday, the sun rising, at five o'clock colouring Nice and its mountains ... I am high above Nice, I am at the pass of Villefranche, the sun is rising behind me ... The olive trees are so beautiful at this hour ... A little while ago, I took my nap underneath an olive tree and what I saw was of a colour and a softness of relationships that was truly moving. It seems as though it is a paradise that one does not have the right to analyze ... What a gentle and soft light in spite of its brightness! ... Even the objects that it touches are very coloured, such as the greens for example." (Henri Matisse, The Early Years in Nice, 1916-1930, Washington D.C., 1986-87, pp. 22-23).