Standing Figure 1906

Henri Matisse made this Standing Figure in oil paint, and you can tell he’s really feeling his way through it. The colours are lush, but it’s the brushwork that gets me – those juicy strokes laid down one after the other. It’s like he’s thinking with the paint. Look at the lower part of the dress. See how he builds it up with dashes of turquoise and salmon, almost like knitting? The paint isn’t trying to trick you into thinking it's fabric; it's just paint, loving being itself. I bet it felt good for him to make those marks. It's what makes the piece so alive. Matisse reminds me of Bonnard, in a way – that same joy in colour and the everyday, but with a wilder, more intuitive edge. Both show us that art isn't about answers, but about keeping the conversation going.