art-Matisse.com
Henri Matisse 1869-1954
©Henri Matisse - Vase with Two Handles. A Bunch of Flowers 1907
 Vase with Two Handles. A Bunch of Flowers |
From the State Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg, Russia:
The artist's motif is simple and eternal: a bouquet of fresh flowers stands on a table, a source of joy
and a means of decorating an interior. Pure colours and dynamic brushstrokes fill the painting with the breath
of life. Matisse took a direct impression of nature as his starting point, but from it he created a whole new
world with its own laws rather than a slavish copy of reality. Hence he depicted no precisely defined interior,
included no prosaic deatils. Making use of colour's own objective potential, Matisse contrasted flat areas of
colour, building up not only a harmonious whole but an effect of space. The cool of the blue concentrated in
the central part of the painting introduces depth, while the light-bearing yellow-orange seems to reaffirm the
flatness of the painting. The verticals combine with the corner view of the table to establish the spacial
coordinates of this interior, an interior with no shadows but entirely filled with light.