Jeune femme martiniquaise 1947

Henri Matisse made this drawing of a young woman from Martinique with ink on paper. What I love about this piece is how much he does with so little, the fluidity of line, like he’s trying to capture the essence of something, not just the surface. Look at the line that defines the side of her nose, it’s so simple, but so effective. The ink isn’t trying to hide itself, it's right there on the surface, thick and thin. It looks like you could almost reach out and touch the ink. Those curly lines that make up her hair, that’s a process of finding the right rhythm, the right movement. It’s like he’s dancing with the ink, letting it lead him around the page. You see that in the work of other artists like Picasso and Twombly, it shows us art is an ongoing conversation, a continuous exchange of ideas and ways of seeing. It embraces multiple interpretations, never settling on one fixed meaning, which is what makes it so exciting.