Still Life with a Pewter Jug and Pink Statuette 1910

Henri Matisse made 'Still Life with a Pewter Jug and Pink Statuette’ with oil on canvas, and it’s now hanging out in the Hermitage Museum. Look at that juicy red! It's like the whole painting is blushing. And the way he lays down those brushstrokes, so direct and confident, you can almost feel him thinking about the color and form as he goes. There's a little blue dish over on the right, just a small daub of paint, but it holds the whole composition together. Matisse wasn't trying to trick us into thinking this was real. He was showing us how he saw the world, how he felt about these objects. It's like he's saying, "Here's my world, made of color and light. Isn't it beautiful?" It reminds me a little of Morandi, that same focus on the quiet beauty of everyday objects, but with a wilder, more passionate energy. Art's not about answers, it’s about the questions.