Interior, Open Door 1920

Here we see a painting made by Henri Matisse with oil paint, a medium that has been used to create art for centuries. Notice how Matisse has applied the paint, in visible brushstrokes and layers. This technique gives the painting a tactile quality; you can almost feel the thickness of the paint on the canvas. The inherent qualities of the oil paint, like its viscosity and slow drying time, have allowed Matisse to build up the image gradually, creating depth and texture. Oil paint, though widely used, was also a commodity, produced through industrial processes. The pigment itself was extracted and processed, then mixed with oil and binders. The production of art materials like these was part of a larger economy of resource extraction, manufacturing, and consumption. In this context, painting becomes not just an aesthetic act but also an engagement with the material world. By understanding the materials and processes that went into creating this painting, we can appreciate the artist’s labor and connect the artwork to broader social and economic contexts.