Matisse
This small lithograph by Henri Matisse, monumental in scale despite its diminutive dimensions, bears witness to the artist’s dexterity in the deployment of line and organization of pictorial space. The diagonal cut of the table, the juxtaposition of the vase of flowers with the seated female figure, the play of lines of the balustrade, and the hint of a background landscape, just enough to suggest an external reality, fully demonstrate the style and compositional skills of one of the most important artists of the 20th century, from his beginnings at the turn of the century as founder of the Fauve group to his last works,which explore the essentiality and purity of linear forms. This elegant female figure sitting by a window exudes all the warmth and serenity that permeates much of Matisse’s work: the atmosphere of the Côte d’Azur where he spent most of his life, the elegance of the painterly gesture, the harmony and musicality of the compositional rhythm, and the perfect interweaving of lines convey a feeling of tranquillity but not immobility, in a moment stolen from the intimacy of everyday life.