Bouquet of flowers in chocolate 1902

Henri Matisse made this painting, Bouquet of Flowers in Chocolate, with oil on canvas. Look at these brushstrokes! How Matisse lets the marks sit on the canvas, and the thick layers of paint accumulate. You can imagine him building up the image, shifting it, and changing it over time, until it feels just right. I’m thinking about Matisse standing in front of the canvas, his arm moving, again and again, building the vase and table top. It’s almost like he is constructing a world, bit by bit, feeling his way through it. His flowers are rough and ready, not fussy or precious, and yet, they are still flowers, full of life and colour. Matisse is a master of colour. The chocolatey hues give the piece a rich, warm feeling. You can sense how he looked and looked and looked some more. Every mark feels essential, considered. And yet, he also trusts in the accidental, the intuitive. Like all good painters, he shows us how to see, feel, and think about the world. He makes me want to paint.