Femme au chien sur le petit lit vert 1929

Henri Matisse made this line drawing of a woman and a dog with ink on paper, we don't know exactly when. I love how, with just a few strokes, he captures the essence of a cozy domestic scene. It's all about simplicity, isn't it? The lines are delicate but confident, almost like he's sketching straight from his mind onto the page. Notice how the dog, kind of a fluffy creature, blends right into the woman’s lap, becoming one with the patterned fabric of the sofa. This little detail, this merging of forms, it gives the whole composition a sense of intimacy. Also, I like that you can see the grid underneath the drawing. It reminds you that art is made, it doesn't just happen. Matisse's drawing reminds me of Picasso's line drawings, where a single line can define form and space. Both artists were masters of reduction, of boiling things down to their bare essentials, so that everything feels alive. It is this capacity for suggestion, this ambiguity, that makes art so engaging.