11/30/2022 0 Comments Dancing line music silence![]() It was a version of the “Sardana,” a traditional Catalan farandole. More specifically, the round dance that inspired the painting was a fishermen dance the artist observed in the Southern French city of Collioure. In this regard, The Dance offers a reflection on the evolution of dance. This type of popular dancing contrasted with the more formal, traditional or classical types of dance such as ballet. Still, according to the art critic Charles Caffin, the artist’s fascination with dance started at the Moulin de la Galette. The motif visibly spiked Matisse’s interest enough for him to isolate it and dedicate an entire painting to exploring it. The dancers in Dance are in a similar position to the ones in the background of The Joy of Life. Matisse first illustrated this interest in the 1906 painting Le bonheur de vivre (The Joy of Life). The theme of dance occupied an important place in Matisse’s life and work. Matisse and his fascination for dance Henri Matisse, The Joy of Life (1906) ![]() The circle comes to find those that “are outside,” and thus unify individuals. The rupture’s point being closest to the viewer’s position, it can be interpreted as an invitation to join in the dance. However, Matisse carefully placed the rupture where it overlaps the other figure’s leg as not to break the colours and circle’s harmony. The five figures are holding hands in a circle, but on the left, we can notice that the two individuals’ hands are parted they only slightly brush instead of holding. The dance is the ultimate symbol of the reconciliation of individuals. Matisse does not focus on the dancers’ individual appearance, but rather on the movement and rhythm they create together. The individuals are entirely lost in their dance, oblivious to any daily obligations and work. ![]() Matisse aimed to create a synthesis of primitivism the clumsy figures inspired by primitive and folk art and bright energetic colours expressed instinct and nature. The artwork becomes a symbol of unity between man, heaven and earth. For example, the figure’s nakedness demonstrates a rejection of modern civilisation. Dance’s crudely outlined figures recall primitivist styles and the subject matter, figures communing within an empty, perhaps “virgin” landscape, can be read as an advocation for a necessary reunification with nature. The Fauves shared primitivists’ interests in indigenous communities and they were inspired by primitivism to create art that returned to the essence of nature and communion. Primitivism and FauvismĮxample of a primitivism painting by Max Pechstein: Killing of the Banquet Roast (1912) ![]() The huge canvas (260 cm by 391 cm) has a very flat background and the only focus are the dancing figures. Moreover, there are no architectural features or landscape markers to create a sense of perspective or distance. Matisse explored the relationship between colours and lines to create harmony for him, colours weren’t meant to work in isolation. Red silhouettes are simply outlined with heavy contours against the blue and green background. The economy of style and details produced ambiguous figures neither their facial expression nor their gender is clearly defined. Charles Caffin, an art critic who watched Matisse working on the canvas in his studio, stated that “the pigments were pure from the tubes.” In line with Fauvism’s traditional colour associations, these three vivid hues create an intense contrast. Matisse only used three colours for depicting this revelry: blue, green, and red. Henri Matisse’s aesthetic choices for this painting caused quite a scandal in the 1910 art salons the audacious nude and the crudely applied colours gave the artwork a primitive character which in the eyes of some viewers seemed barbaric. Fauvism’s saturated colours and candid style Today, Dance by Matisse is hung with its partner Music at the Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg. Dance was painted at the height of the Fauvism aesthetic and embodies the emancipation from Western art’s traditional conventions of representation. Characteriz ed by its simplicity and energy, this ecstatic bacchanalia left a lasting mark on 20th-century art. ![]() The artwork was commissioned with its matching painting Music by the influential Russian collector Sergei Shchukin in 1909 for decorating his mansion. Amongst Henri Matisse’s most famous works, Dance is an ode to life, joy, physical abandonment, and has become an emblem of modern art. ![]()
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