Still Life with sleeper 1940

Editor: So, we’re looking at Henri Matisse's "Still Life with Sleeper" from 1940. It's watercolor, and honestly, it feels…peaceful? The colors are soft, even with the bold patterns, and the sleeping woman just exudes tranquility. How do you interpret this work? Curator: Ah, yes, peaceful, until you poke it with a stick! No, no, just joking, mostly! Seriously though, it *does* radiate calm. You've got the reclining figure, surrounded by all these Matissean hallmarks: the plants, the patterns. But for me, it’s all about the tension between the flatness of the picture plane, which he’s always exploring, versus the illusion of depth he manages to conjure with the colors and overlapping shapes. It's like a dance between what is and what could be. What do you make of the flattening, or lack thereof? Editor: That's a great point! I see what you mean, with the shapes overlapping it seems to go back and forth, the surface popping forward, receding into the backgroud. It is really fascinating that tension! All these elements in a tight space. The colours blend so well but also provide contrast between object and surrounding, and make everything seem like it is within reach. The scene has such familiar air to it, does it? Curator: Familiar indeed! You put your finger right on it! The work just whispers familiarity doesn't it? But you see how the woman dissolves in the rest of the picture with those loose strokes? That dissolution mirrors the surrender one makes to slumber. It makes me think… perhaps that familiarity is the artist, reflecting on his daily life while also going deep inside of his own thoughts? It feels as honest as can be! Editor: I love that! Now that you mention that it actually all makes more sense and that personal feeling gives me an almost a peek-hole of a person. I'll never see this painting the same way again! Curator: Exactly, that’s the magic! These works really come to life the more you engage with them!