Dix Danseuses VI 1925 - 1926

Matisse made this drawing of dancers with what looks like a graphite stick, dragging it across the page to build up tone and mass. You can see the movement of his hand as he sketches this dancer, slumped and resting. I imagine Matisse was thinking about the relationship between form and line when he made this drawing. The way he uses shading to suggest the volume of the dancer's body, but also relies on simple outlines to define her shape. He’s capturing a fleeting moment of reprieve, after great exertion. You can see the marks of the graphite as it moves, creating a texture. It reminds me that painting and drawing are like a dance, the artist leading and the materials responding. This exchange of mark-making and seeing is so alive with potential! Like Degas, he seems concerned with the everyday moments in a dancer's life, but unlike Degas, Matisse captures a single resting figure, full of grace, and invites us into her private, quiet moment. It feels like a real exchange of ideas, across time.