When I start getting overwhelmed by some artistic themes, I usually write a post. Today, let’s talk about Matisse’s discothèque, or rather, his painting Dance. Just recently, I posted something for the New Year, and an American friend commented, “Are you at MoMA?” The thing is, there are at least 2 versions of Dance, according to Wikipedia, but in my opinion, there are 3, or even more, depending on how you count.
I get so confused by the endless lilies, dances, squares, and joyful divorces of Kandinsky or the squiggles of Twombly in all the museums. Sometimes, it starts to feel like mass production was invented much earlier! Let’s count the dances.
The first appearance of dance as a theme in Matisse’s work is in my favorite painting Joy of Life from 1906. That same year, according to legend, Shchukin arranged for the creation of 3 panels for his house: what we now know as Dance, Music, and Bathers, which remained in the form of sketches. Then, in 1909, the first full-size Dance (the one now in MoMA) was created. In 1910, Dance for Shchukin was presented at the Salon. Poor Matisse was constantly criticized, sometimes for his use of color, sometimes for the nudes, and Shchukin was also wavering—should he take them or not? But in the end, it was like “I didn’t sleep all night, let’s have this circle of naked people.” And so, Dance and Music came to be, our beautiful nationalized treasures. Then, in 1912, Matisse painted Nasturtiums, where, again, Dance appears in the background. I also think I’ve seen it in other works like The Artist’s Studio, where the left edge of the painting is visible. But I was once again stunned in October 2022, when my friend and I visited MoMA (Paris), and I saw Dance again—different in format and color scheme, but it was definitely it. It's called The Paris Dance and was created much later, between 1930-1933. There are also 2 versions of this dance, or maybe 3, since there are sketches too!
What inspired Matisse? He himself wrote that he went to the Moulin de la Galette and watched people dance the farandole—a Provençal circle dance. But there are many other versions and references, including Goya, Cranach, etc.
There have also been many references to Dance later on, and I’m attaching just one by Roy Lichtenstein, but it’s generally considered the most quoted work of art after the Mona Lisa.
#matisse #anrimatiss #matisse #anrimatiss #dance
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