The Romanian Green Bluse 1939

Henri Matisse painted The Romanian Blouse sometime in the early 1930s. It’s mostly blues and blacks, with some red and green thrown in for good measure. I imagine him building up the painting bit by bit, with each stroke responding to the last, the painting slowly shifting and emerging. I sympathize with him, I really do. It must have been such a process of inquiry, trying to capture the essence of his subject. The paint looks pretty thin, scrubbed on in places, and those dark markings on the blue blouse, are they flowers, or some kind of code? I love the way they add texture and depth to the painting, giving it a real emotional resonance. Notice that meandering green stem, how it droops down from the top? Matisse spent his life making paintings and drawings. I see artists like him as always in conversation, exchanging ideas across time. His embodied expression embraces ambiguity and uncertainty, allowing for multiple interpretations and meanings.