Dance (II) 1910

Henri Matisse made this painting, Dance (II), with oil on canvas at an unknown date. Look at how those gorgeous orange figures loop around and around! You can almost see Matisse building up the painting’s surface, shifting and refining his vision through color and form, line and rhythm. I imagine him standing there, brush in hand, maybe stepping back every now and then to get a better view, feeling the energy of the dance. He must have thought about what it means to be human, the human body, the expression of joy. There’s this one figure leaning back, almost falling, but still holding on, like a moment of vulnerability in the midst of celebration. It makes me think about other painters, like Paula Modersohn-Becker, who also looked to the body as a primary source of expression and who wanted to paint humans in their everyday lives. What a conversation they all were having! A conversation that continues today.