1920

Woman Seated in an Armchair

French, 1869 - 1954

The model in a white slip dress sits in a small yellow armchair. Her shoes are lined up on the floor next to her, and her straw hat sits on the orange couch to her left. Henri Matisse’s main conceit in this composition was to put the three-dimensional physicality of the woman’s form in tension with the rich patterns and colors of the room’s decor, including the upholstered chair, tables draped in textiles, vase of flowers, folding screen, curtains, and carpet. Several of these objects recur in related compositions of the same year, and the placement of their juxtaposed shapes, patterns, and colors in gentle visual tension was also a repeated compositional device.