Moorish Screen 1921

Henri Matisse painted “Moorish Screen” with oils on canvas, and just look at the way the light filters through those arabesque patterns, doesn't it feel like a dance? The painting has this incredible tension between flatness and depth, all through the layering of colour. The reds and blacks of the carpets vibrate with a tactile quality. Matisse uses thin, transparent washes to build up these surfaces and then he punctuates them with these thicker, more opaque touches, almost like little jewels. Take the flowers on the table, for instance, the way the brushstrokes become these little dabs of pink and white, they are almost sculptural. Matisse shares an interest in domestic interiors with Pierre Bonnard, who takes it to even more intimate and claustrophobic levels, but ultimately, it’s the sheer joy of colour and pattern that makes Matisse so unique, he doesn’t want us to just see, he wants us to *feel* the painting.