Odalisque with a Turkish Chair 1928

Henri Matisse made this painting, Odalisque with a Turkish Chair, with oil on canvas. I can just imagine him, brush in hand, dancing around the canvas, trying out all those bright blues and reds. Matisse's paintings are so full of life and energy. He's really got a knack for making these flat surfaces feel so alive. Look at the way he defines the shapes with these bold colors, like the blue of her pants against the red of the wall. It's like he's building up the painting, one color at a time. It makes me think of the way Bonnard uses color and pattern in his paintings of domestic interiors, enveloping everything in a haze of sensation. You can almost feel the texture of the canvas and the fluidity of the paint. It’s like he's in a conversation with all of us, and all the painters who came before, each of us borrowing, improvising, and pushing the boundaries.