Carmelina 1903

Henri Matisse's oil painting, "Carmelina," hangs here at the MFA in Boston, and when you look at it, you’re seeing a moment captured on canvas, but it's also a process. Matisse works with these warm, fleshy tones, layering them in a way that feels both deliberate and spontaneous. The paint isn't trying to hide anything, it's not blended into an illusion of seamless reality. You can see each brushstroke, each decision. I love the way he paints the drapery on which the figure sits. The colours are alive and vibrate. The thickness of the paint varies, sometimes thin, sometimes built up, adding a tactile quality to the work. Take a look at the areas where the light hits her body. There is a whole conversation between the flat background and the three-dimensional elements. It reminds me of Cézanne, with his interest in flattening space, in bringing the world to the surface. It feels like Matisse is saying, "Here is the world, not as it is, but as I see it, as I feel it."