Dance

Henri Matisse painted this Dance in 1910 for Russian collector Sergei Shchukin, who commissioned it along with a companion piece, Music, for his Moscow mansion. Five red figures hold hands in a ring dance against a vivid green landscape and deep blue sky. Only three colors, applied flat, create the entire image.

The figures' bold red bodies, originally pink in a 1909 study at MoMA, represent what Matisse called "an untamed life force." Their swift, joint movement fills the composition with passionate arousal and pagan energy. The dance itself recalls folk traditions preserving ritual elements from ancient times.

During the Russian Revolution, Shchukin's mansion was raided and both paintings vanished for years. They resurfaced in 1930 and found a permanent home at the State Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, where Dance hangs today.