Portrait of Barones Gourgaud 1924

Henri Matisse made this painting of Barones Gourgaud with oil on canvas sometime in the first half of the 20th century, and it's like he’s not just painting a person, but constructing a whole world, isn’t it? The way he builds up the color, it's almost like he's knitting. Look at the floral pattern of the tablecloth; the way the colours vibrate against each other makes the surface crackle and pop. The painting is not just a window onto a scene but becomes a physical thing in itself. There's a book on the table that reads “Art et Decoration." The Baroness herself is sort of an object amongst objects, carefully placed by Matisse within the artifice of this constructed domestic space. Matisse is like Bonnard, but he’s also like, nothing else. These artists were having their own conversation about how to make a painting, how to make space, how to see. We’re just lucky to be eavesdropping.