D
© Copyrighted Artwork
This artwork is protected by copyright. We cannot display images of works by artists who passed away after 1954.
See the original at Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York
Dance (I)
by Henri Matisse, 1909
Details
- Year
- 1909
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Size
- 259.7 cm × 390.1 cm (102.2 × 153.6 in)
Henri Matisse painted this Dance (I) in 1909 as a study for a larger commissioned work. Five nude figures join hands and dance in a circle against bands of blue sky and green earth. The red-orange bodies create a primal rhythm of color and movement.
Matisse simplified the composition to its essence: bodies, space, movement. The Fauvist colors are deliberately unrealistic, evoking pure emotion rather than describing nature. Russian collector Sergei Shchukin commissioned the final version, which hangs in the Hermitage. This preliminary version, equally powerful, belongs to MoMA.
