The Dessert: Harmony in Red

I'm so happy that 2025 has finally arrived; this is the year when, thanks to the public domain, we can start featuring Henri Matisse's masterpieces! I hope that you will fall in love with his works as much as I have.  :)

Henri Matisse was a French visual artist, painter, draftsman, printmaker, and sculptor. He is commonly regarded, along with Pablo Picasso, as one of the artists who best helped to define the revolutionary developments in the visual arts throughout the opening decades of the 20th century, responsible for significant developments in painting and sculpture.

The intense colorism of his works between 1900 and 1905 brought him notoriety as one of the Fauves (French for "wild beasts"). Many of his finest works were created in the decade or so after 1906 when he developed a rigorous style that emphasized flattened forms and decorative patterns. In 1917, he relocated to a suburb of Nice on the French Riviera, and the more relaxed style of his work during the 1920s gained him critical acclaim as an upholder of the classical tradition in French painting. After 1930, he adopted a bolder simplification of form. When ill health in his final years prevented him from painting, he created an important body of work in the medium of cut paper collage.

The background of the painting we present today was originally green, but Matisse changed it to blue before displaying it at the Salon d'Automne in 1908. In 1909, Matisse repainted the background in red. The artist aimed to capture the essence of still life and the interiors of his time. The artist deliberately maintained realistic qualities in the objects within the painting, even as he experimented with color. For instance, the lemons on the table retain their yellow hue and realistic proportions. At the same time, the bold red of the room contrasts strikingly with the dark green landscape visible outside the window. Swirling dark blue lines on the tablecloth and walls further contrast with the richness of the red.

This overwhelming and bold red color began a trend in Matisse's work. If you want to learn more about his art, here's Henri Matisse in 10 paintings!