Three Sisters 1917

Henri Matisse painted "Three Sisters" with oil on canvas, and the date of production is unknown. There's a real openness to his mark-making, you can see the process, feel how it was done. The surface has a lovely, almost chalky texture. Look at the bottom right, at the girl with the book. Her hand holding the book seems tentative, unfinished, and those rapid strokes really make the image come alive. It’s the kind of painting where you can almost feel the artist thinking, deciding as he goes. There’s a tension between the kind of academic subject matter and the informal, almost improvisational way that Matisse applied the paint. I’m reminded of Gauguin, not in terms of style, but in terms of his quest for a more authentic way of seeing and painting. For both artists, the goal was not just to represent reality, but to find new ways of experiencing it.