Henri Matisse

Henri Matisse

The credibility of the incredible finds a strikings confirmation in the fact that, handicapped as he seems to br, Matisse has the keenest, most penetrating, most ruthlessly acute vision of all painters,and has even invented some new colours. Have we here a physiological reaction, and is the natural weakness of sight so vigorously counteracted by a massive effort of the will to- see as to force upon the artist a competence for seeing better than the most clear-sighted ? A hazardous conjecture ! Indeed the problem seems insoluble unless we fall back on one of those long abstract words dear to the psychologist which, seeming to explain away a difficulty, merely camouflage it; or unless, carried away by the dazzling splendour of Matisse's art, we are content simply to account for it by the action of that " queer thing Genius. "

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Developing progressively; the arabesques set in contour-lines are fretted with rectifications, and amendments are necessitated by the expansion of the colouring (cf. the figure on the left). whereas, in the figure on the right, proffering flowers, the ideal form is glimpsed from the very first moment, and built up with colour alone, and from this very conflict arises that unity, so hardly come by, of the composition;

Here we have the final, consummate version. The preliminary hesitations have vanished, the arabesque is clearly defined, its drawing fuller, more assured. Matisse's aesthetic has come into its own. Each tract of colour is reinforced by the line, volumes are brought out by sweeping antitheses of planes. The composition is noticeably compact. While foreshadowing that of - ‘La Danse' (the version at the Moscow museum), it has neither its dynamism nor its poetic appeal. In this work something of the slightly disconcerting tang of the sketch still lingers. Here Matisse already wishes his painting to give a restful effect; not to raise problems. Hence its fine serenity, evoking the atmosphere of repose dear to the artist's sensibility.