The Hindu Pose 1923

Henri Matisse made "The Hindu Pose" with oil on canvas, but when exactly? Who knows! What strikes me is how Matisse lets the process hang out; it's like, here's the painting, and here's how I did it. Check out the way the pink of the model's skin meets the patterned fabrics around her. You can almost feel the push and pull between them, the way Matisse built up the colors and patterns. The whole image is vibrating with the physicality of the paint. It’s cool how the blue patterned backdrop kind of pushes the body forward and flattens the whole picture plane. I feel like Matisse and Bonnard were having a similar conversation. You know, like, how can we bring decorative color and figure painting into the 20th century? There's no right answer, of course, just a lot of interesting possibilities. I like the way Matisse explores them.