La Lecture 1947

Henri Matisse made this drawing, La Lecture, with charcoal. The marks are loose, like he's feeling his way around the forms, letting the charcoal just glide and skip across the surface, the drawing becomes an act of finding. Look how the vase of flowers is sketched with such energy, little scribbles forming the petals. You can almost feel the speed of his hand, deciding where to put each line. It's not about perfection; it's about process. Notice too how he’s captured the quietness of the two women reading. The way the lines fade in and out, creating a sense of depth and shadow. Matisse often used drawing to explore ideas before committing them to paint. Think of this drawing as a conversation, a dialogue between the artist and his subject. You can see echoes of this in the drawings of Picasso, both artists constantly reinventing the language of art through line and form. Art isn't about answers, it's about the questions we ask, the journeys we take, and the stories we tell along the way.