Nu de trois-quarts, une partie de la tête coupée 1913

Henri Matisse made this drawing with decisive dark lines on a pale ground, and you can almost hear the scratch of the charcoal on paper. Look at how the simple lines somehow describe the roundness of a torso, an arm, or a breast. I can imagine Matisse, with his model in front of him, quickly trying to find the essence of the form. Was he humming to himself, I wonder? He’s a master of reduction, this guy. When I look at his lines, I think about my own painting process, the back and forth of adding and subtracting. But here, Matisse has this uncanny confidence. Just a few strokes and boom! We get a body, a feeling, a presence. It's like he's saying, "Here it is, the pure and simple truth." The way the head is cut off makes me think about how we often only see fragments of each other and the world. And that’s ok. Matisse helps us see the beauty in what’s there.