Laurette Au Châle Vert 1917

Henri Matisse painted this portrait, Laurette Au Châle Vert, with oil on canvas, and I can only imagine the questions he was asking himself as he worked on it. The dark outlines feel both confident and tentative. The way the face is built up from flat planes of color reminds me of Cezanne, like he’s trying to get at something essential about seeing. I can imagine him simplifying, reducing the planes of the face, and thinking about how to describe a volume with so little information. It looks like he was also thinking about his Fauvist peers, by exaggerating the tones in the face and the pure green of the shawl. Matisse is one of those figures who is constantly in conversation with the history of painting, all while pointing to the future. He shows us how to make something new while honouring our elders. It’s a difficult balance, but when it works, it really works.