Head of a Young Girl 1917

This is Matisse's "Head of a Young Girl," and it’s a playful dance of color and form. The lilac background, the brown hair, that splash of green in her bow—it's like he’s not just painting a portrait, but making a garden, a little world onto itself. I can imagine Matisse standing there, brush in hand, maybe squinting a little, trying to capture not just what she looks like, but the feeling of her, that moment in time. Look how the paint is laid on—thick in some places, thin in others. The strokes aren't trying to hide; they're part of the show. There's a directness in the gaze, a simplicity in the shapes. It's like he's stripping away all the unnecessary stuff to get to the core of who she is, or maybe, more accurately, who she is in that moment, on that day. It connects to a whole history of portraiture, from the Renaissance onwards, but here Matisse is pushing it, twisting it, making it his own. And that's what painting is, right? A conversation across time, each artist adding their own voice, their own brushstroke, to the story.