Codomas 1943

Henri Matisse made Codomas using cut paper. You know, with Matisse, even at his most abstract, you get the feeling that everything is so carefully considered. It's like each shape and color is put down with this immense confidence, but also with a sense of play. The surface has this handmade, almost childlike quality, with its bold lines and simple shapes. But when you look closer, you see how sophisticated the composition is. Take those yellow squiggles at the top, for example. They’re floating so freely, but they echo the squares of the lower ground and they lead your eye right through the composition, it's so subtle but the piece holds together beautifully. Matisse always had this incredible sense of color, and how it could create space and movement. I see echoes of Miro in this work, but Matisse takes it in his own direction. It’s all just so him. The piece feels spontaneous, but I suspect it’s been revised and reworked, and this push and pull is something I really admire.