Henri Matisse wrote the book “Notes of a Painter” and through the book, he discusses the art of painting. From “notes of a painter” Matisse has integrated painting and writing since his book majorly explains every important detail and processes of painting (Svenungsson 23). In his book Matisse discusses painting under various topics: On first composition, Matisse says that composition involves arranging various parts of a painter’s commands to show their feelings. The second topic he discusses is “on first impression” and through these writings, Matisse attempts to persuade painters to focus on creating serenity in their work. On copying vs. interpretation, Matisse discusses how to capture the true characteristics and picture of an object and express it in his paintings. Through integrating painting and writing to express and explain his art work. Matisse helped people understand his paintings (Svenungsson 24).
In Matisse’s painting “Dance” Matisse integrates dancing to arts (painting). The juxtaposition of the dance to nature as represented by the blue colour representing the sky and green representing the earth shows human beings subconsciously dancing to the tune played by nature (Bock-Weiss 17). Through this, Matisse has been able to integrate two out of context scenarios and brought them into his canvas of artwork. Through this integration, Matisse’s work also depicts the spirit of modernism in arts which has been characterized by integrating a completely out of context painting into an artwork. Through his work, therefore, Matisse was able to integrate several facets of arts like painting and writing and also arts and dance. These characteristics express the paradigm shift and Matisse’s inner expression of modernism in arts as compared to traditional arts.
References
Bock-Weiss, Catherine, and Henri Matisse. Henri Matisse: Modernist Against the Grain. Penn State Press, 2009.
Svenungsson, Jan. "The writing artist." Art & Research 2.2 (2009).
