The Fauves

W

Art collector Leo Stein, lqos.

U S C H O L A S T I C

A N EXPLOSION OFhen the work on our cover was first exhibitedin Paris in 1905, it was described as "the nastiest smear of paint I have ever seen."* Its creator,

Henri Matisse (on-REE mat-TEECE) and the other French artists whose works you'll see were referred to by many as "barbaric children," "madmen," and "wild beasts" (or Fauves in French). Why would critics and the public be so outraged at works that today are thought of as masterpieces?

For many years Paris-then considered the art world's

Henri Matisse's portrait of his wife introduced the art wor ld tosurprising new ways of using color.

COVER : Htnri Matisse (1869-1954), Femmt au chaptau (Woman with th< Hat>, 1905. Oil on canvas,313/4 x 23 1n in. San Francisco Museum of Modem Art.Bequest of Elise S. H aas. 02006 Succession H.Matisse, Paris I Artists Rights Socitty (ARS), New Yori<.

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•This portraitof Henri Matissethe most important of the Fauvistartists-was painted in complementary blues and orangesby Fauvist Andre Derain. Cool blues and greens contrast with warm oranges and reds.

Andre Derain ll880-1954), Portrai t of Henri Mati, 1qos. Oil on canvas, 18 x 13718 in.Tat,Gallery, London I Art Resource,New York. O 2000Artists Rights Society (ARS), New Yorlc I ADAGP, Paris.

11> Titled The Green Line, this pictureof Madame Matisse shocked viewerswhen it was first shown in 1905.

center-had been ruled by a powerful art organization that favored huge, dark, realistic studio paintings. At the start of the 20th century, Par isians were ju st getting used to the work of a radical group called the Impressionists. A few years earlier, these painters had taken their canvases outside to work from nature. But the Impressionists used their bright colors andloose brushstrokes to capture the realistic effects of light.

The Fauvists used color in an entirely different way.Trad itional artists nearly always began their paintings with a subject's form. They would then work with the natural hues (or colors) of that form. The Fauvists began their paintings with color. They used it to express their feelings, rather than

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..,T • SEPT/OCT 2006

Henri Matisse, Portrait of MadatnfMatis ( The Grttn Lint}, 1905.Oil on canvas, l& x 12 7/8 in. Statens Museum for Kunst,Copenhagen.02006 Succession H. Matis.se1 Paris IArtists Rights Soci,ty (ARS),New York.

\\ ST R O N G E M OT IO N S CA L L FO R V IV I D B L U ES, R E DS, Y E L L OWS -CO L O R S TOSTI R T H E SE N S E S." -H E N R I M ATISS E

to describe the subject before them. In works like Woman with the Hat (cover), Matisse simplified his shapes andarranged his colors to convey his model's essence. Clashing, complementary color pairs (an orange face against a blue green background; a purple hat beside a yellow tint) pull the eye around the painting. To viewers of the time, these unre

.. alistic color fragments made this work seem sketchy andunfinished. But even worse, in many people's opinion, were

Everything has been simplified and flattened into broad areas of brilliant color; the elements are all on the same plane.Conversation is almost a bluemonochrome (one color), with small related green areas and complementary orange color

•The cool blues of thiswork symbolize an argument between Matisse and hiswife.The window grill forms the French word for "no."

Henri Matisse, Conversation, 1908/09-12. Oil on canvas,69 5/8 x 85 3/8 in.Hermitage, St. Petersburg / Art Resource, N ew York.C 200& Succession H. Matisse, Paris I Artists R ights Society (ARSl, New York.

the distortions and unnatural green slash running down thecenter of the face in Matisse's The Green Line (left).

Later Matisse paintings were even more abstract. In both Conversation (above) and Hmmony in Red (pp. 8-9), the colors and shapes are more important than the subjects.

accents. The red room in Hannony in Red seems even warmerand brighter when contrasted with the complementary green rectangle of the window. The curves in the trees are repeated in the wallpaper and the woman's hair. The yellow dots on the table and grass further link "inside" and "outside."

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2006 • SCHOLASTIC ART 3

C

<11 Matisse painted Derain using complementary color tints to suggest his fr iend's sensitive nature.Henri Matisse,Andre Dtrain, 1905. Oilon

canvas, 15 112 x 11 3/8 in. Tate Gallery, London

I Art Resource, tew Yori:. 0 2006 Succ,ssion H. Matisse, Paris I Artists Rights Society IARSl, NewYorlc.

T H E WORLD- •mac

4 SCHOLASTIC ART • 2006

I

I

I

\\ WE W ER EINTOXICAT ED WIT H C O LO R, WIT H T H ES UN T HAT MA KES CO LO RS LIV E."

-A NDR E DERAI N

inedn the summer of 1905, Matisse left Paris for the south of France. There he was joined by a friend he had met in art school, fellow painter Andre Derain (duh-RAN).

In the small fishing port of Collioure (co-LURE), the two artists created many of the works that were to so shock the French art establishment later that year.

You've seen Derain's colorful portrait of Matisse (page 2).

Using thick strokes and arbitrary (unrelated tu nature) color, Matisse presents Derain (top, left) in bright sunlight.

Fauvist works, Derain was hired to paint a series of London cityscapes. The 30 paintings he created included Charing Cross Bridge , London (below, left).This simplified, distorted, brilliantly colored painting is a high-angle view

..."The visible world isa great deal less interesting than the world re-imagined through color."

-Andre Derain

Andre Oerain, Mountains at Col/ioure, l905. Oil on canvas,32 x 3q 1/2 in.John Hay Whitney Collection. Photo: 0 200& Nat ional Gallery of Art,Washington, D.C. 0200& Artists Rights Society CARS), New York I AOAGP, Paris.

A green shadow defines one side of his face. Active diago nals and contrasting color pairs (red/green, blue/orange) suggest Derain's elegant, high-strung personality.

Derain's M ountains at Collioure (above, right) is a typicalFauvist painting. The subject is an ordinary landscape. But

II the brushwork and unnatural color were startlingly different from traditional landscapes. Instead of a foreground anda background, this flat work has a top and a bottom. The

II trees and grass below are made up of short strokes of paint,I many squeezed right from the tube. The colors-blues,I greens, yellows-are related, or next to each other on

thecolor wheel (see page 14). The colors-orange, red, blue of the washes in the mountains and sky at the top, are also

I related to each other. Derain has created visual tension bycontrasting the overall red-orange hue of the top with thecomplementary (opposites on the color wheel) blue-green

of the bottom . Color

of the Thames (TEMS), the large river that runs through London. Boats, barges, and smokestacks suggest a busy industrial area. A blue diagonal bridge divides the picture into thirds. Bright green buildings clash with green's com plement, the blood red water below. Green towers stand out against a pink (tint of red) sky.

But much of the visual tension in this work comes from the different ways in which the water is treated. The left side of the river is a broad, flat area of intense (bright) red, broken up by a few strokes of bright blue. The water on the right is made up of two complementary areas-one orange, the other blue. Short strokes form both these expansesof water. Cool shades and tints of blue define the bridge's shadow. Choppy orange and yellow brushstrokes suggesta ray of sunlight reflecting on the water under the bridge.The white canvas showing through the widely spaced dots in this area makes the water seem to shimmer.

.-"I use color as a meansof expressing my emotionand not as a transcri ption of nature." -Andre Derain

Andr Derain, Charing Cross Bridge, London, 1qo&.Oil on canvas,31 5/8 x 3q 1/2 in.John Hay Whitney Collection. Photo: C 200& NationalGallery of Art, Washington, D.C. 0200& ArtistsRights Society CARS), New York I ADAGP,

Paris. accents of green in the sky and the orange branches below visually unify both halves of the painting.

Due to the sensation created by this and his other

I1I

Derain's friend Matisse continued to use bright color, reinventing his style throughout his long

career. But Derain soon began painting traditionally again. His

colors became more realistic, his forms almost geometric. But during his brief, brilliantly colored Fauvist period, Andre Derain created some of the most important paintings of the time.

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2006 • SCHOLASTIC ART 5

Y

SAVA G E ues

•Andre Derain has usedrelated, high-intensityreds and oranges to capture the energy and strong per sonality of Fauvist painter Maurice de Vlaminck.

Andrf Oerain, Maurice dt Vlaminck, 1906.Oil on cardboard, IO 3/8 x 8 1/4 in. The Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. C 200& Artists Rights Society (ARS), New Yorlc I AOAG P, Paris.

ou've seen how Matisse brought Andre Derain into the Fauvist move

ment. Derain in tum, recruited his old friend Maurice de Vlaminck (vla MINK). A self-taught artist, Vlaminck was the wildest of the wild beasts. He took great pride in never having set foot inside the Louvre (LOO vruh), one of the greatestmuseums in the world. And hefelt that painting should not be taught, but should just come naturally. Vlaminck's energetic, outgoing, and somewhatoutrageous personality is represented in Derain's portrait (above, left). The bright red face, glaring eyes, and slashing lines Derain used also resemble Vlaminck's painting style.

Both Vlaminck and Derain had grown up in the Parisian suburb of Chatou (sha-TOO). The two artists began paint ing together, and soon shared a studio. In 1901, the worksof Vincent Van Gogh (van GO) were shown in Paris for the first time. The Dutch artist's brilliant, arbitrary colors, thick swirling brushstrokes, and emotional painting style stunnedthe Fauves, especially Vlaminck. In works like Houses at

6 SCHOLASTIC ART • 2006

Chawu (above, center), Vlaminck began combining bright primar y colors (reds, yellows, and blues). The alternating strokes of yellow and blue at the bottom of this picture form an optical mix (the colors seem to combine in the viewer's eye). This gives the impression of the secondary color green. Vlaminck added green from the tube to this area, sometimes squeezing the paint directly on the canvas. Thick, black, curved and broken outlines define each subject in the picture, giving the scene a restless sense of movement.

When Derain and Matisse returned from the south of France with their new paintings in 1905, Vlaminck's colors became even brighter. Matisse encouraged the younger

"IWANTED TO BUR N DOW N T H E ECOLE DES BEAUX-ARTS* WITH MY COBA LTS AN D V ER MILIO NS." -MAURIC E DE VLAMI NCI<

...i"Instinet is the foundation of alI art."-Maurice de Vlaminck

Maurice de Vlaminc k, Landscape near Chatou, I90b. Oil on canvas.Stedelijk Museum,Amsterdam. C 200b Artists Rights Society CARS), New York I AOAGP, Paris.

T "When Ihave colorin my hands, Ifeel Ican re-invent even the most traditional forms of painting."-Maurice de Vlaminck

Maurice de Vlaminck, Still life with Oranges, 1907. Oil on canvas,17 1/2 x 21 114 in. Foundation E.G. Buhrle Collection, Zurich. C Artists RightsSociety C ARS), New Yori< I ADAG P, Paris.

...i "Itry to paint w ith my heart and my guts without worrying about style."

-Maurice de Vlaminck

Maurice de Vlaminck C!87b-l958), Houses at Chatou,c. 1905.Oil on canvas, 32 x 40 in. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Maurice E. Culberg.Photo: C 2002,The Art Institute of Chicago. C 200b Artists Rights Society CARS), New York I ADAG P, Paris.

artist, arranging for his worksto be exhibited with that of the other Fauv ists. One of these paintings was Landscape near Chatou (top, right). A descrip tion of the subject-red-roofed houses seen behind an area of fields and trees-might sound

very calm and stable. But the hurried, almost violent brush strokes, dark, thick lines, and swooping, intersecting diag onals give Vlaminck's canvas a nearly frantic sense of agitation. The greens, yellows, and blues used by the artist are related to each other on the color wheel, but the effect is far from harmonious. The fragmented black lines and splashes of bright red complementary color outlines con tribute to the feeling of restless frenzy.

Vlaminck's choice of colors could make even the most ordinary objects exciting. The br illiant red-orange of the cable cloth complements the blue hues of the coffee potsin Still Lif e with Oranges (above, right). The diagonals of the'Eh-KOH L de boz-ARTS A famous art school in Paris

table edge and the cast shadows bring attention to the composition's focal point, the two juicy oranges.

The Fauvist movement began in 1905. It lasted only a few years. By 1908, Vlaminck and most of the Fauveshad moved on to other paint ing styles. Only Mat isse-who went on to become one of the most celebrated artists of the modem era-continued to work with the brilliant color combinations first used by these artists. Today, Fauvismis considered a turning point in the history of 20th-century art. The Fauvists had freed the element of color. No longer limited by the imitation of nature, color could now become a vital tool of modem creative expression.

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2006 • SCHOLASTIC ART 7

IHENRI MATISSE

What aspect of this painting is in the academic style?

Henn Matisse.StJf Port:rart, 1900. Odon cames. Private Collecbon.Image: Courtesy of Succession H.Mat.tsse. G201Q SuccesslOO H.Matisse/Arbsts Rights Society (ARSl, HewYOtk.

BecomingMatisse This artist changed the way we think about color

s a child in a small town in France, Henri Matisse (ahn REE mah-TEESS) wasn't interested in art. Like a typical young boy, hejust wanted to play, and hid from his violin

teacher to avoid practice. When Matisse got older,his father, a merchant, asked him to join the family business. So after studying law in Paris, Matisse reluctantly returned home to work.

Then in 1889, when he was 20, illnessforced Matisse to stay in bed for several

'ISCHOLASTIC ART ·DECEMBER 20ltt / JANUARY 2015

months. To entertain him, Matisse's mother gave him a set of paints. "The moment had this box of colors in my hands," he recalled,"I had the feeling that my life was there." Matisse knew that art was his future. Against his father's wishes, Matisse returned to Paris to study art.

Rule BreakerThe French Academy, Paris's top art

school,accepted Matisse. At first, he obeyed the Academy's strict rules, painting serious subjects realistically. But another style of art, called mpressionism, was gaining popularity in Paris. mpressionists painted with quick brushstrokes, capturing light.Matisse tried it, though he never fully embraced

the style. n his 1900 SelfPortrait, above left, the colors are realistic.

In 1905,scandalized viewers called paintings like this one "a universe of ugliness . "

Henri Matisse, Woman W.tho Hot Ifemme auchapeau]. )905. Oil on canv9s. 313Jqx23 l.t?in. San Frl;natco Museum of ModernA.rt. San Francisco.CA. Bequest of El se S. Haas. DZO Q Succes.slon H.Matisse/ArtistsRtghts Society (ARS). New York.

''What Iam after, above all, is expression.' '- Henri Matisse

Above Left: What did Matisse achieveby painting the table and the wallthe same color?

Henri Matisse, TheRedRoom (Harmony in Red}, 1908.Od on canvas.

But the short brushstrokes, such as the dabs of yellow on the figure's sleeve, are

Impressionistic. This new way of painting

opened Matisse's eyes to Paris's rapidly

changing art scene.

Wild BeastsFrustrated with the Academy's rules,

Matisse and other rebellious artists experimented with color. n 1905 they held a group exhibition in Paris. Audiences

weren't impressed. One critic called theartists fauves, a French word meaning "wild beasts." The name stuck, and the artistic style became known as Fauvism.

Rather than paint with realistic hues, or colors, Matisse and the other Fauves used a wild palette,or range of colors. n his Woman With a Hat, above left, Matisse used pink and green for the woman's cheeks and nose. These are arbitrary colors,not the colors of a real face.

For Matisse, a portrait wasn't just a representation of the subject. t was an expressive likeness of her personality.

Despite the sensat ion Fauvism caused, it lasted only from 1901.t until 1908. Matisse explained, "Fauvism [wasn't] everything, only the beginning of everything."

LifelongInnovatorAfter Fauvism, Matisse worked on his

own, not as part of an artistic movement,or group. Believing that "color can achieve its full expressive power only if it is organized," he tried to find new ways of arranging colors.A single flat color, red, dominates his

1908 Harmony in Red, above left.

Matisse's bold use of color transforms the

scene so the color red becomes the

subject of the work.

By the 191.tOs, poor health made it hard for Matisse to paint. nstead, he cut shapes from paper to make collages,

which he called cut-outs. He described this process as "drawing with scissors."

In works like his 1947 Icarus, above right.Matisse simplified the shapes. After a lifetime of experimenting, Matisse felt that cut-outs like this one were the purest expression of his art.

1BO.Sx22lcm.The State Hermitage MuseuR\ St- Petersburg. Image; Courtesy of Succession H.Malissa Dc011' Succession H.Matisse/Artists Rights Society (ARSJ. New York.

Above: How did Matisse overcome his physicallimitations to createthis work?

Henri Matisse, Icarus, from the Jon senes. 19LJ7.Image: Courtesy of Succession H. Matisse. a201q Succession H. Matisse/Artists Rights Society (ARSJ.New York.

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discussing the

IHENRI MATISSE

Inwhat ways is this composition balanced?

Hemi MaUsse. The Green Line. Portr0it of Modarne 11.at.sse, 1905.. Oilon cti/1\'3S. l6xl2718in Statens Museum for Kunst,Copenhagen ID201Q SuccessiOn H.Matisse/ArtistsRoghu, Sodety IARSl 1:.,,,Yori<.

PeculiarPortra its Matisse experimented with color and created untraditional beauty

WRITE ABOUT ART

Select one of

the portraits

on these

pages. Write

a paragrap h

ways Matisse

used col or

to comp lete

the painting.

atisse painted portraits often, but was more concerned with exploring color than painting a realistic likeness. At first, his portraits, like the one

above, startled viewe rs.The woman's skin is an unnatural shade of yellow and a vertical green line bisects her face. But once viewers got used to Matisse's wild color scheme, they grew to love the work. Today, this painting is one of the most iconic portraits in history.

Fauvist FaceMatisse once said, "Idepend entirely

on my model[s)." The artist preferred to paint his family and friends. He didn't wa nt to worry about offending paying customers

with his unconventional Fauvist portraits.

The woman in the 1805 work above, The Green Line, Portrait of Madame Matisse, is the artist's wife, Amelie.

Matisse divided the canvas into geometric planes of color. He used cool blue-green for the background on the right side of the work, and warm red-orangeon the left. This arrangement places complementary colors, opposites onthe color wheel (see page 10), across from one another,which energizes the image.

Although the colors vary, the saturation, or intensity, of each color is the same.This balances the composition and flattens the space.The figure's dress seems to exist in the same plane as the wall behind her,and the green line reduces her nose to a flat line.

6 SCHOLASTIC ART· DECEMBER 201Ll I JANUARY 2015

How did Matisse flatten the space inthis composition?

Henri Matisse.Zorah on the Terrnce,1912 PushkinState Museum of Rne Arts.. Moscow. Russia. mage:Courtesy of Succession H. i.otat sse. 0201 Succession H. Matisse/ArtistsRights Society (ARS). N!?W York.

Moroccan LightMatisse traveled often and saw as much

art as possible."Morocco had excited all my senses," the artist exclaimed after a visit to the North African country. "The intoxicating sun long held me in its spell." For his 1912 work Zorah on the Terrace, right, Matisse wanted to echo Morocco's crisp, clear light. The work is monochromatic, which means that Matisse painted almost entirelywith varied shades of a single hue: blue green. The dominant colors are cool,which accentuates the warm fishbowl in the lower right corner. Matisse chose not to include shadows at the corners where the pale walls and floor meet. so each plane seems to blend right into the next. A figure kneels on a dark-blue rug in the center of the scene.If not for the pattern adorning her dress, the

figure would fade into the space around her.

.

..

Patterns That PopThe decorative patterns of slamic art

inspired Matisse,and he frequently added lavish patterns to his paintings, as in the 1937 painting at left, Woman in a Purple Coat. A critic who visited Matisse's studio wrote about the artist's "work library," a collection of fabrics and rugs with bright patterns. The artist hung the fabrics on easels to inspire him to create exciting backgrounds and unusual color schemes.

Dense patterns, large and small, energize the polychromatic-multicolored-painting at left. The sitter, who modeled for Matisse frequently, wears

a striped purple robe. It creates a diagonal that pulls the viewer's eye across the composition. While her facial features are simplified, bold, black outlines distort the figure in a way that captures her relaxed personality.

How did Matisse use pattern to energize this painting?

Henri Matisse., \\bmon inaPurple Coot.1937.Oilon canvas. Bb.652cm..Museum of Rne Arts. Houston.TX. Museum purchasefunded by Audrey Jones Beck. mage: Bridgeman Images. 02011'Succession H.Matisse/Artists Rights Society (ARS), Ne-..,. York

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of your room .Use one color for both

IHENRI MATISSE

Red ReimaginedMatisse revisited the same subjects often, always seeing them in new ways

SKETCHBOOK STARTER What similarities does thispainting have to Harmony

he 191.tOs were difficult for Matisse. As World War IIraged across Europe, the artist battled cancer. He later recalled feeling isolated during his slow recovery. Many of his

friends had left France to escape the war, while Matisse remained behind, confined to his home by his illness. Just as he had done as a young man,Matisse created art to distract himself from his pain.

Off the WallsSince he was stuck at home, the rooms

within Matisse's living space became the primary subject of his work. n his 191.tB Large Red Interior, left. Matisse depicts his studio. Two tables stand beneath two artworks, which hang on the walls. Scrolling black lines form the table legs, and bright colors accent flowers and lemons on the tables. But the most striking aspect of this painting is the dominance of the color red.

The artist frequent ly returned to the monochromatic red color scheme he used in his 1908 Harmony in Red (page 5). His goal in doing so was to create "balance, purity, and serenity." By painting the horizontal planes and vertica l planes the

same color, Matisse flattened the space.The vertical legs of the table seem to blend right into the horizontalfloor.

Matisse took the same approach in his 19'-t3 The Lute, above right. Flat red unites the walls, floor, and table,but because of the woman on the left,the room appear!', to have greater

depth.The wide shape of the woman's dress shows the distance from the

foreground to the background, where the floor meets the wall.

Paint, Revise,RepeatIn his 191.tl Still Life with Magnolia, right,

Use co lor ed pencils to ma ke a sket ch

t he w alls and the floor. How does

this change the way you see the

room?

in Red, on page 5?

HlfVi Mabsse.uuge Rad Intenor, 19,ij8.Od onca.nv11s. lti6x97cm. Mvste National d'Art Moderne. Centre GeOfget Pompidou.P.ns.France. Image: Courtesy of Soccess1on H.Mat•ne.0201 SucceasJon H.Matisse/Artists Rtghts Society lARSlNewYork.

Matisse outlined each object in black and

painted the negative space flat red. The outlines emphasize the simplified shape of each object and accentuate the spatia l

8 SCHOLASTIC ART· OECEMBER 2014 / JANUARY 2015

relationships among them.Notice how the

scalloped edge of the shell echoes the shape

of the spaces between the magnolia leaves.It took Matisse severaltries to arrive at

this composition. The artist was known for making drastic changes to his paintings. He reworked this canvas many times in an attempt to find the "essential character" of the objects. The artist continued to simplify the forms until he was satisfied.

''Idon't paintthings. Ionly paint the difference between things.' '-Henri Matisse

How does the color relate to the space in this painting?

Henri Matisse, The L.ute, 9L&3. Oilon canvas, 59x79cm. Pola Museum of Art.Japan.. a201Q Soccession H.f..tat sse/Artists RightsSociety (ARS}.New VOOl.

Matisse's LegacyThe works Matisse made late in life

were just as innovative as his early Fauvist paintings. Viewers were astonished by modern, abstracted compositions like Large Red Interior. n 19Ll9, Art News marveled at "Matisse's incredible ability

to ...create space with color alone." Another critic exclaimed, "Matisse is at the present moment painting as well as he ever has painted before, and, in some respects perhaps, even better." The simplicity of the forms he painted and his use of color soon gave way to the vibrant cut-outs that Matisse thought were his most successful artistic endeavor.

In his life, Matisse witnessed and inspired radical changes in art. Realism was still the norm when he entered the French Academy in 1895. His lifetime spanned Van Gogh's swirling night skies, Picasso's Cubist portraits, Dali's surreal dreamscapes, and by his death in 195LI, Pollock's splattered canvases. Matisse stands out among history's great artists as one of the first truly modern masters.

How did Matisse find the uessential character" of theobjects inthis work?

Henri Matisse. StiH L.ife with Magt'JOlja,lSlll.Oil oncanvas, 7Qx10lcm. Musee National d'ArtModerne. Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris.. Image:Jacqueline Hyde./Art Resource. NV.0201qSuccession H. Matisse/ArtistsRights Society (ARSl, New VOfk.

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IHENRI MATISSE

Things to Know About Color

How did Matisse add drama to thiswork?

Henri Matisse, Prum Blossoms, Green Bockground, 19qa.Ori on canvas. q5 Sl8JC35in. Pioacoteca Giannie Marella

Agnelli,Turin, taly.mage:Pinacoteca Gianni e Marella Agnelli. a201qSuccession H.Matisse/Artists Rights Society LARS), New York.

10 SCHOLASTIC ART· DECEMBER 201Q I JANUARY 2015

MATISSE'S PHILOSOPHY

OF COLOR T"Color was not given to us

in order that we should

imitate nature, but so that

we can

express our own emotions." 2THE COLOR WHEEL.._The primary colors-red, blue, and yellow-are used to mix all other colors. A secondary color is the result of mixing two primaries:red + yellow = orange;

red + blue = purple;

yellow + blue = green.

a ! lo r ! h other on the color

wheel. n Plum Blossoms, Green Background (191.tB), Matisse created

a sense of drama by surrounding the figure with large areas of the complementary pair of red and green.

'I !g u l ?r

next to each other on the

color wheel. n Matisse's

Woman in a Kimono (1937), the analogous colors red, pink, and yellow dominate the painting, creating a warm composition.

What are some other examples of analogous colors?

Henri Matisse, Woman ina Kimono, 1931.Oilon canvas. Private Collection. Image: Courtesy of Succession H. Matisse. a201q Succession H.Matisse/Altist·s Rights Society {AAS). New York.

5 e s d ! natural, colors to portray

emotions rather than create realistic images. n this 19Lt7 painting the artistuses bold lines to divide the subje ct's face into planes of blue and yellow. He crowns the figure with luxuriant green hair.

Arbitrary colors transform this portrait of a woman.

Henri Matisse.Portrait of Lydia De/ectorskayo, 19'17. Oil on canvas. 6Q.5xQ9.5cm The State Hermitage Museum. St. Petersburg. Gift of Lydia Oelectorskaya. mage: Courtesy of Succession H.Matisse. D201Q Succ:ession H. MaltsseJArtists Rights Society (ARS). N8\YYork