The Pont Saint Michel in Paris 1900

Editor: This is Henri Matisse's "The Pont Saint Michel in Paris," painted around 1900. It's an oil painting, and viewing it, I get this very immediate impression of Parisian calm – the brushstrokes are soft, and the colors muted. It feels almost like a hazy memory. What do you see in this piece? Curator: Oh, a hazy memory, I like that. For me, it’s like standing on the edge of a breath. Matisse, still finding his footing, hasn’t quite exploded into Fauvism, but you can feel that hunger for color brewing. The grey skies sort of echo the muted buildings, right? Then, bam, little explosions of ochre and pale green in the trees – almost like the painting's hesitating before a leap of faith! What do you make of the light reflecting off the water, so still? Editor: I think that stillness emphasizes the dreamlike quality I mentioned earlier. The light almost dissolves the bridge into its reflection. Was Matisse intentionally evoking that fleeting nature of a dream? Curator: Fleeting, yes, like an impression caught in a jar. I reckon he was out there *en plein air*, chasing that ephemeral moment, trying to grab hold of it with his brush before the light changed again. It's like he's inviting us into his own sensory experience, almost before he truly had a defined style, capturing a feeling more than an exacting reality. What do you make of the bridge being cropped out, not going the entire length of the picture plane? Editor: It's almost like we're only allowed to see a portion of the world, that sense of limited access reinforces this feeling of a hazy, half-remembered vision. The experience this lends me adds a deeply moving feel. Curator: Exactly! That partial view kind of echoes the transitional moment in his career. A lovely perspective. I now see how those initial quiet tones held so much promise.