Romanian Blouse, Red and Blue Background 1940

Henri Matisse made “Romanian Blouse, Red and Blue Background” sometime in his career, using oil on canvas. You can see his playful spirit, his pure delight in the act of painting, in the way the colours and patterns vibrate against each other. I’m imagining Matisse in his studio, utterly absorbed, maybe even a little lost in the act of creation. Notice how he uses these simplified forms and flattened perspective—it's as if he is not just depicting what he sees, but also what he feels. The way he’s laid down the colours: the red against blue, and then the white blouse, patterned with rhythmic marks… they all dance together. I wonder if, in making this work, he was having a conversation with the Fauvist painters, or maybe even looking ahead to the pop artists. It’s a kind of exchange across time, and each gesture speaks to the last.