Street at Biskra 1906

Henri Matisse made this painting, Street at Biskra, with oil on canvas, and what grabs me first are those lush, rectangular strokes of peachy orange, lavender, and sage green. I can just imagine him, brush in hand, layering these colours, building up the light and the landscape like a puzzle. There’s something so satisfying about how he’s turned what could be a straightforward street scene into this dreamy space. What was he thinking as he daubed those blues and lavenders into the sky and those corals into the walls? There’s a real push-pull between representation and abstraction here. It reminds me of the way Bonnard used colour to create a mood, turning a domestic scene into a shimmering field of emotion. But Matisse's approach is different, more direct. It’s like he’s saying, "Here’s what I see, here’s how I feel, take it or leave it." And that directness, that willingness to embrace the raw energy of the moment, is what makes it such an enduring work. He’s having a conversation with painters across time, a beautiful, ongoing exchange of ideas.