Wednesday, February 15, 2012

La Danse, Henri Matisse


La Danse, Henri Matisse
Originally uploaded by dalbera
La Danse, or Dance, is commonly recognized as "a key point of (Matisse's) career and in the development of modern painting".[5] It resides in the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg.

La Danse is a large decorative panel, painted with a companion piece, Music, specifically for the Russian businessman and art collector Sergei Shchukin, with whom Matisse had a long association. Until the October Revolution of 1917, this painting hung together with Music on the staircase of Shchukin's Moscow mansion, says Wikipedia.[4]

The painting shows five dancing figures, painted in a strong red, set against a very simplified green landscape and deep blue sky. It reflects Matisse's incipient fascination with primitive art, and uses a classic Fauvist color palette: the intense warm colors against the cool blue-green background and the rhythmical succession of dancing nudes convey the feelings of emotional liberation and hedonism. The painting is often associated with the "Dance of the Young Girls" from Igor Stravinsky's famous musical work The Rite of Spring.

No comments: