Henri Matisse: Condensation of Sensation

Matisse

Condensation of SensationsBrighton Demerest-Smith

The Study of Gustave Moreau, 65 x 81 cm., Private Collection, 1894-1895

“All my life I have been influenced by the opinion current at the time I first began to paint, when it was permissible only to render observations made from nature. All that derived from the imagination or memory was called “chique” and worthless for the construction of plastic work. The teachers at the Beaux-Arts used to say to their pupils, “Copy nature stupidly.” -Matisse 1908

Woman with the Hat, (Femme au chapeau; Madame Matisse) 1905, Mr. and Mrs. Walter A Haas, San Francisco (formerly collections: Leo and Gertrude Stein; Michael and Sarah Stein)

Portrait of Madame Matisse (The green line), 1905, Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen, Denmark

Self Portrait in a Striped t-shirt, 1906

Blue Nude (Souvenir de Biskra), 1907, Baltimore Museum of Art

Academy MatisseSeptember 1907- January 1909

When referring to Raphael and Titian Matisse said, “Such painters are of no value to anyone because, whether we want to or not, we belong to our time and we share in its opinions, preferences, and delusions,”

Picasso, Three Women, 1908

“I want to reach that state of condensation of sensations, which constitutes a picture. Perhaps I might be satisfied momentarily, but… Nowadays I try to put serenity into my pictures and work at them until I feel that I have succeeded,”

Bathers with a Turtle, 1908, St. Louis Art Museum

“Expression to my way of thinking does not consist of the passions mirrored upon the human face or betrayed by a violent gesture. The whole arrangement of my picture is expressive.” -Matisse, 1908

The Red Room, 1908

The Dance, 1909, Museum of Modern Art, New York

“Sometimes it has been conceded that I have a certain technical ability but that, my ambition being limited, I am unable to proceed beyond a purely visual satisfaction such as can be procured from the mere sight of a picture.”

“But the purpose of a painter must not be conceived as separate from his pictorial means… I am unable to distinguish between the feeling I have for life and my way of expressing it,”

Woman on a High Stool, 1914

Where did the Color of 1905 go?

“The role of the artist, consists in penetrating truths, but which will enable him to master them in their deepest significance.”

Triad of King Menkaure. Fourth Dynasty. Egyptian Museum, Cairo, Egypt

Piano Lesson (La Lecon de piano). Issy-les Moulineaux, 1916 or 1917, Museum of Modern Art, New York, Mrs. Simon Guggenheim Fund

Piano Lesson (La Lecon de piano). Issy-les Moulineaux, 1916 or 1917, Museum of Modern Art, New York, Mrs. Simon Guggenheim Fund

“Sometimes it has been conceded that I have a certain technical ability but that, my ambition being limited, I am unable to proceed beyond a purely visual satisfaction such as can be procured from the mere sight of a picture.”

• “But the purpose of a painter must not be conceived as separate from his pictorial means… I am unable to distinguish between the feeling I have for life and my way of expressing it,”

Matisse, The Pink Nude Seated, 1935

Matisse, Blue Nude with Hair Blowing in the Wind, 1952