1905, Henri Matisse, Still Life -- National Gallery of Art (Washington)
From the museum label: Much like the variant in The Met collection (on view nearby), this still life is an exercise in color relationships, all laid out in flat patches without concern for specificity of content. Only the teapot, jug, and wine bottle are recognizable in this dense assemblage of roughly drawn objects. Matisse applied layers of radiant hues in a crowded, ambiguous arrangement offset by sweeping strokes of white to suggest a napkin or tablecloth. As with other Matisse works, the carefree, spontaneous brushwork dissolves form into a ravishing patchwork of pigment.
1905, Henri Matisse, Still Life -- National Gallery of Art (Washington)
From the museum label: Much like the variant in The Met collection (on view nearby), this still life is an exercise in color relationships, all laid out in flat patches without concern for specificity of content. Only the teapot, jug, and wine bottle are recognizable in this dense assemblage of roughly drawn objects. Matisse applied layers of radiant hues in a crowded, ambiguous arrangement offset by sweeping strokes of white to suggest a napkin or tablecloth. As with other Matisse works, the carefree, spontaneous brushwork dissolves form into a ravishing patchwork of pigment.