Reclining Nude on Violet Background 1936

Henri Matisse made this painting of a reclining nude with oil on canvas. Matisse must have been thinking about the expressive potential of color here! I can imagine him, brush in hand, moving between shades of violet, green, and gold. Look how the violet background merges and bleeds into the contours of the nude figure. The model has a golden bracelet and the background has soft looping marks. See how they seem to dance and float in the dark space? It’s playful but also very considered. I see his careful attention to the surface, texture, and form. His hand moves decisively, yet with a relaxed kind of knowing. Matisse opened up new ways of seeing and thinking in his work. As painters, we all exist in a long, interconnected chain of creative exchange. We build on each other’s ideas and processes, allowing new forms to come into being. I feel his inspiration and permission for a kind of embodied expression that’s rooted in ambiguity and open to interpretation.