Head of Lorette 1917

Henri Matisse made this painting, Head of Lorette, with oil on cardboard. Look at the brushstrokes; they’re so direct. The color palette is fairly simple, but there is a real tension between the warm tones of the figure's face and the cool, dark background. For me, this makes the whole painting feel alive and in process. I’m drawn to the way the paint is applied, particularly on the figure's face. You can see the individual brushstrokes building up the form, and there’s this lovely sense of transparency in the layers of paint. There is a real freshness and immediacy, with some of the brushstrokes feeling almost unfinished, and this is what I find so appealing. It's a bit like when you read Gertrude Stein and can sense the writer figuring things out as she goes. You can sense that he is searching for the essence of the subject, letting the painting be a record of that search.