Standing Figure 1906

Henri Matisse conjured this oil painting, "Standing Figure," with rapid strokes of greens, blues, and pinks. I can picture him, attacking the canvas, smearing and swiping, building up this vision of a figure almost out of pure sensation. Look at how the brush dances around the edges of the form, not really defining them, but allowing them to emerge from the surrounding space. Is it a dress she is wearing, or is the figure dissolving into the world around her? I bet Matisse was wrestling with similar questions, caught between representation and pure abstraction. The paint itself is pretty thin, which gives it a fluid, almost watercolor-like quality, blurring the boundaries between things. This guy knew how to make paint sing, didn't he? He knew all about Bonnard and Cezanne, and he was figuring out what to do with what came before him. Painting is always like that, a conversation that has been happening for a long time.