Fish tank in the room 1912

Henri Matisse made this painting, called 'Fish tank in the room,' with oil on canvas. The dark room really makes the other elements pop – especially those little orange fish darting in and out of the blue striped vase! I can imagine Matisse, squinting, trying to capture the scene’s reflections and distortions. He probably went back and forth, layering the colors and simplifying the forms to nail that perfect balance between observation and invention. It's the textures that grab me, and the physicality of the paint. The thick impasto in the statue tells you something about how he wanted to see it, what was important. It's like he's building the form with brushstrokes, each one a little decision, a little push and pull. Painters are always in conversation, right? Matisse riffs off Cezanne, and then someone riffs off him, and on and on, so art keeps evolving, even if it seems to be of one moment and time. These paintings, they are alive, and keep on inspiring us to look and see in new ways.