The Open Window 1921

Matisse made "The Open Window" with paint on canvas, and you can see how he's exploring a way of seeing that feels both immediate and carefully constructed. The colors are muted, almost pastel, but there's a real vibrancy in the way they sit together. Look at the surface texture, how the brushstrokes are visible, almost like a map of his process. The paint isn’t trying to hide itself or pretend to be something else. It’s just paint, applied in these short, deliberate marks. Notice the lower left, the place where the window meets the sill. See how the green becomes yellow and blue in such close proximity, and how the colours overlap? It's a pure joy to see the way he's unafraid to let the colors vibrate against each other. You can see this searching for the pure expression of colour again and again in the work of someone like Milton Avery, who also wasn't afraid to let colors do their thing. I think Matisse really nailed that feeling of art being a conversation across time and space.