Figure endormie sur fond de moucharabieh 1929

Here’s a dreamy scene Henri Matisse etched, a sleeping figure against a decorative background. Just imagine him, poised with his etching needle, coaxing these wispy lines from the metal. It’s so spare, so minimal – what was he thinking? Probably about letting the white of the paper do some work. I bet he felt like he could just keep going, adding more and more lines, but then he stopped himself. That takes guts! It reminds me of his cut-outs, but in reverse: instead of subtracting from color, he's adding to a blankness. Look at that line that defines the figure’s back. It’s so simple, but it has this incredible curve, a real sense of weight and volume. You know, painting and drawing are like a conversation between artists across time, all of us riffing on each other’s ideas, pushing and pulling. It's not about perfection, it's about exploring the possibilities.