Henri Matisse

La Musique

Oil on canvas, made in 1939

This painting is four and a half feet tall by four and a half feet wide, a perfect square. The viewer’s gaze is met by two women seated on brightly pattered cushions on what may be a patio. A combination of interior and exterior space is suggested by a bold red background covered with a bright yellow grid, comprised of roughly 1 inch squares that fills the bottom two thirds of the painting. The top third implies an exterior space as this strip of space has a solid black background on top of which are large flat green tropical plant leaves. The woman on the right side of the painting holds a guitar, on a table top set at the bottom of the work in between both is an open music book.

This work is painted in strong, bold colors. The figures and objects are flattened and linear. While the colors feel very solid, portions of the painting reveal the artists fluid brushstrokes which often move in a systematic direction within the given shape that they fill.

This description will start with the woman holding the guitar. The top of her head rests roughly five inches from the top of the canvas just to the right of center. Her navy blue long sleeve, ankle length pant suit has a sharp v-neck which reveals a cool peach flesh tone. She has chin length, wavy black hair. A few simple black lines create her angled open eyes, thin high arching eyebrows, slender nose and closed lips. Her gaze seems to be focused on the viewer and the corners of her lips curve slightly upward. She has broad shoulders. Her oversized left hand cradles the neck of the guitar and her equally oversized right hand is cupped with her palm facing upward just below the open sound hole of the guitar as though she is strumming the strings. Her torso faces the viewer while she is seated in a bright red lawn chair with a vine and leaf pattern lightly defined by a thin white line. The back of the chair is evident behind her right arm. Her left leg is bent and her left foot rest on-top of the lawn chair, her nose and edge of her pants are out of the picture frame. Her right leg is slightly bent and her large arched foot touches the bottom edge of the canvas. The bottom edge of both pant legs are patterned with upward facing bright yellow triangles.

On the left side of the painting, the second woman’s face is similarly painted, although her gaze seems to look just past the viewer, her head is at the same height of the other woman’s elbow. She has shorter legs, equally oversized hands and sits on a black round cushion on the floor beside the red lawn chair. She sits on her left hip, her knees meet and her legs rest to her right side. Her feet are out of the picture frame as her ankles meet the bottom left hand corner of the work. She wears an ochre long sleeve knee length dress with a rounded neck line. Her legs are covered in warm orange tights. Her breasts are defined with two circular lines.