Repose Among the Trees 1923

Henri Matisse painted this dreamy forest scene, likely in the early 20th century, with oils on canvas. I imagine him outside, squinting at the model while the sun moved through the trees. The color palette is subdued, but the way he used small brushstrokes of color—red and orange—to create a pathway makes me swoon. I can almost feel the heat radiating from the ground. The woman is reading, or at least, holding a book. Her blank expression is curious. I'm thinking about what it might have been like for Matisse. Perhaps he was experimenting with pushing the boundaries of representation, following in the footsteps of the impressionists. His contemporary artists were exploring abstraction, and you can see him, here, heading in that direction, too. But he is drawn back by the human form. Painters today still respond to Matisse. We are all in an ongoing conversation, you know? Each stroke is a new brush with a new way to push forward.