Espagnole (Buste) [The Spanish Woman]

Assuming the pose of a thinker, Henriette Darricarrère − a ballerina and musician who was Henri Matisse’s preferred model from 1920 to 1927 − wears elements of a traditional Spanish dancer’s costume. While her piercing eyes and gold bracelet are the focal points of this painting, the floral patterning of the scene’s backdrop and the repeated chevrons of her pyramidally shaped mantilla distract the viewer’s gaze with a wealth of optical stimulation. This work was made during Matisse’s so-called Nice period (1917–30). Abandoning the blinding colours and more avant-garde modes of construction of his earlier compositions, particularly the Fauvist works he made with André Derain in 1905, the artist during this phase of his career made more naturalistic pictures that focus on the play of light and shadow on different surfaces, evident here in the patchwork modelling on Darricarrère’s neck, cheeks and arms.

− 2024

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