Dance 1 by Matisse Critique - Essay Example

Matisse’s Dance Matisse’s Dance Introduction Henri Matisse received an important commission in 1909 from Sergei Shchukin, who was a wealthy Russian industrialist. Shchukin asked Matisse to pain three large scale canvases that would be used to decorate the spiral staircase of his Trubetskoy palace Mansion located in Moscow. After the Russian revolution of 1917, these panels were obtained by the Hermitage. the Large and well loved painting Dance 1 is considered to be rather disingenuously titled and although it is essentially a full scale in oil, of interest is that Matisse did not initially consider it to be more than a preparatory sketch (Rubin & Matisse, 2008). Henri Matisse was already an established law clerk in Paris when he began to keenly follow his interest in art and painting. He conducted an intense study of the works of some of the post-impressionistic painters such as Paul Cezanne before he and some of his contemporaries went on to create what was dubbed as the Fauvism movement. The Fauvism movement was their perception of the post-impressionistic era. However, this movement lasted for a relatively very short duration and its signature brush strokes eventually disappeared from Matisse’s work which later on went to encompass the Cubist movement style. The Dance 1 painting is considered to be one of the most noteworthy pieces that Matisse was able to produce during his Fauvism period (Zibas, 2011). The figures depicted in Matisse’s Dance 1 painting, express both the joy and pleasure that was very much a part of the earlier Fauve masterpiece. The figures in the painting are drawn in a loose manner and have almost no interior definition. Art critics have likened the figures to bean bag dolls due to their unrestricted and formless movements. Although the figures in the painting do not appear to be restricted in any manner, one should take care not to be fooled by the childlike spontaneity of the image. In developing the painting, Matisse is noted to have worked incredibly hard to cause his paintings to appear almost effortless. Matisse was able to accomplish a very difficult task in coming up with the Dance 1 painting as he had to ensure that he first unlearn all the lessons of representation that he had learnt so as for him to be able to create an image where form essentially matches the content in the image (Lanchner et al., 2008). For Matisse, dance essentially meant both rhythm and life. These two perceptions are seen to be beautifully conveyed by the feelings that the dancing nude figures depicted in the image seem to radiate. The movements of the figures in the image all boil down to what is a primitive and simple vision that not only conveys a sense of action, but also serves to convey a sense of joyfulness. In the image, while the dancers to the far left seem to move in a rather strong manner with direction, the other dancing figures that are depicted in the circle all seem to be in a state whereby they are nearly floating as their extend arms reach to hold together in what is a beautiful unbroken union (Smarthistory.org, 2014). The dancers in the image inhabit what is depicted as being a brilliant green and blue field. There is a raging debate between as to what these two colors depict as some argue that the blue is the sky that seems to be rising well above the hills, on the other hand, others argue that the blue is actually what that appears to be moving back into the distance. By using the green and the blue in the image, Matisse has managed to use spatial ambiguity to successfully explore the illusion of depth and an acknowledgement of the canvas’s flatness. The use of the red, blue and green colors by Matisse was can be interpreted as having meant to represent the coming together of the mankind, heaven and earth and based on this representation, the characters depicted by Matisse are not meant to be a representation of any true men, but instead, these characters are ideally symbolic in nature. Of note is that the hands of the two front dancers are not held together but are depicted as being parted. In creating this parting of the hands, Matisse is seen to have been careful to only allow this break where it is depicted as overlapping the knee so as not to in anyway interrupt the color’s continuity. The part in the circle has been largely interpret in two ways, the fist being that the part is a source of some tension that urgently requires resolution, while the second interpretation of this part is that it is basically an invitation to the person viewing the painting to join in. This second interpretation is based on the fact that the part has been placed at a position that is noticeably closest to the viewer’s position (Rubin & Matisse, 2008). While some of the past critics strongly argue about the fine details and the perspective that was seemingly left out in the painting, today, this intentional omission is seen to add what has been described as a universal omission to the work by Matisse. The omission allows for the viewer to mentally fill in the image’s background. Although Matisse added some rather subtle detail and even went on to use the canvas to successfully create a sense of mutedness and texture. Ideally, these elements were initially intended by Matisse to take a backdrop of the overall intention and movement of the action within the painting (Lancher et al., 2008). Conclusion Numerous art critics and scholars hold the Dance 1 painting in very high acclaim. Although the Dance 1 image was not Matisse’s first attempt to tackle this subject, this particular rendering is noted to however have given a considerable degree of both meaning and substance to the main inspiration and ideas seen to be behind movement and dance. The piece has often been said to be a portrayal of the pagan bacchanalia, which is a rather chaotic and intense that involves both dance and music and is suitably named after the Greek God Bacchus. The ritual was frequently carried out by a cult that worshipped him. References Lanchner, C., Matisse, H., & Museum of Modern Art (New York, N.Y.). (2008). Henri Matisse. New York: Museum of Modern Art. Rubin, S. G., & Matisse, H. (2008). Matisse dance for joy. San Francisco, Calif: Chronicle Childrens. Smarthistory.org. (2014). Matisses Dance I. Retrived on Dec 8, 2014 from http://smarthistory.khanacademy.org/Matisse-Dance.html Zibas, C. (2011). Artwork Dance 1 by Henri Matisse. 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