THE DESSERT:

HARMONY IN RED
Created by: Henry Matisse

Date: 1908
Place of displacement: Hermitage Museum
in St. Petersburg

DESCRIPTION
There is a room decorated with vases, fruits, and flowers.
There isn't a clear centre.
The color selection generates a feeling of warmth and
comfort while contrasting richly and intensely.
I believe that the artist used red as the main colour since she
wanted to create a space impression, like a single one.
The window, through which we see a green garden with
flowering plants, allows the eye to move into the depths of
the canvas.
The techniques used are based on areas of flat, brilliant and
often unnatural colour with outlined shapes.

HISTORICAL CONTEXT
In 1908, when the painting was created, the art style that
predominated was Fauvism (although it ended on this precise
year). This artistic movement emphasized painterly qualities and
strong color over the representational or realistic values. From
1908 to 1913 compositions were focused on art and decoration,
and Matisse produced several large canvases. These were
followed by four years (1913–17) of experimentation and
discourse with the Cubism of Pablo Picasso, which was
characterised by the abundance of geometrical shapes and lines.