Reading Woman with Parasol 1921

Henri Matisse painted this picture, Reading Woman with Parasol, with oil on canvas. It's all about the paint here, applied directly with visible brushstrokes. The surface texture gives the image a tactile quality, almost as if you could reach out and feel the ridges of the paint. The greens are particularly interesting. Notice how the hat, parasol, and the background almost meld together. It makes you consider how perception isn't just about clearly defined objects, but also how we see colours in relation to each other. It reminds me of how Phillip Guston used to create his paintings, where the forms emerge through layers of color and texture. Like Guston, Matisse invites us to engage with the process of seeing, not just the image itself. It's an invitation to embrace ambiguity and celebrate the messy, uncertain nature of painting.