L’Odalisque, Harmonie Bleue 1937

Here's an opportunity to spend some time with one of Matisse’s odalisques, with its loose brushstrokes and dreamy blues. Just imagine how the painting might have come into being, shifting and emerging through trial, error, and intuition. I can really sympathize with Matisse here. You can sense he is working out the composition as he goes, probably thinking about his predecessors like Ingres, but deciding, no I'm going to push it even further! Like, what is real anyway? Matisse isn’t afraid to apply color boldly. The way he describes the flowers, for example, is by simplifying them into strong shapes and colors. That green of the skirt—it's so vibrant, it practically hums. And look how that one single white flower is placed on the skirt. It’s like a visual echo of the bouquet. Artists are in an ongoing conversation, always thinking about how to express the inexpressible.