The Pink Studio 1911

Editor: Here we have Henri Matisse’s "The Pink Studio," created in 1911. I’m immediately struck by how domestic yet fantastical it feels, the flat planes of color and the way objects seem to float within the space. What leaps out at you when you look at it? Curator: Ah, the glorious Pink Studio! For me, it’s always felt like stepping into Matisse's mind. Look at how he simplifies the forms, flattening them almost, yet retains the essence of everything. The studio becomes a stage, a vibrant world constructed from colour and line. He’s inviting us to wander through his creative landscape, to be co-creators of its existence! I love how that window is also a painting – isn't that delightful? Editor: I hadn’t thought of it as a landscape. So the painting of a landscape also shows us a landscape…that is Matisse’s creative place. Are those paintings leaning against the wall his works as well? Curator: Absolutely. We see them in process, half finished perhaps. Do you notice how the sculpture blends seamlessly into the paintings around it? Editor: Yes! I see now a painting of sculpture next to the actual sculpture. It almost becomes like a visual game of spot-the-difference. It makes me wonder: Is he painting what he sees, or what he feels? Curator: I’d wager he's painting what he feels he sees! That, my dear, is where the magic resides, in that alchemy of feeling, sensation and execution. It reminds me of how Virginia Woolf would see the most mundane things in the world, such as a chair, but describe that image with so many unexpected adjectives as if it had always been new, vibrant, unknown... that’s the mystery in his pink. Editor: I feel as though my world just tilted and it's gone pink, but with beauty and depth now. What a privilege to have stepped into Matisse’s pink studio with you! Curator: The pleasure was all mine!