1933, Henri Matisse, La Danse (The Dance) -- Musee d'Art Moderne de Paris
From the museum label:
Matisse resumed work and completed this last version of The Dance after finishing the one that now hangs at the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia. It is "not just a copy," Matisse explained, because "I had to change my composition. My work here even has a different feeling." The artist described the MAM's Dance as "warlike," and the one at the Barnes Foundation, as, on the contrary, "Dionysian."
A broad lateral movement unites the six dancers overflowing with energy. Matisse painted these vigorous figures alternatively leaping upwards and falling down. This rising and falling takes place in a series of contradictory but responsive movements, while the oblique background strips provide the overall rhythm.
Already imposing in the two other versions of The Dance, here the dancers' grey bodies become even more massive. Their monumental silhouettes, with their simple sketched outlines and uniform colors, seem to be larger than the composition, implicitly extending beyond the painted panels. Matisse explained this by saying that this fragmentation of the dancers enabled him to create "an impression of vastness in a limited space."
1933, Henri Matisse, La Danse (The Dance) -- Musee d'Art Moderne de Paris
From the museum label:
Matisse resumed work and completed this last version of The Dance after finishing the one that now hangs at the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia. It is "not just a copy," Matisse explained, because "I had to change my composition. My work here even has a different feeling." The artist described the MAM's Dance as "warlike," and the one at the Barnes Foundation, as, on the contrary, "Dionysian."
A broad lateral movement unites the six dancers overflowing with energy. Matisse painted these vigorous figures alternatively leaping upwards and falling down. This rising and falling takes place in a series of contradictory but responsive movements, while the oblique background strips provide the overall rhythm.
Already imposing in the two other versions of The Dance, here the dancers' grey bodies become even more massive. Their monumental silhouettes, with their simple sketched outlines and uniform colors, seem to be larger than the composition, implicitly extending beyond the painted panels. Matisse explained this by saying that this fragmentation of the dancers enabled him to create "an impression of vastness in a limited space."