Please help characterizing the genius of Henri Matisse’s painting from 1910.
Le Géranium made news because of its high price at a Sotheby’s auction on May 7, 2008.
Saving my screenshot as ‘for Web and Devices’ made the colors more brilliant. Has anyone seen the original? How bright are the colors?
I am not giving my own impression of the painting because I would like to find out whether anyone echoes what I feel.
Of course, there is the possibility that you find the picture boring.
I think is very stylish painting considering the time 1910….. the simplicity is the beauty that is often dismissed, but the artist can catch with a glimpse!
Birgit:
I’m continually bothered by Matisse. Mostly his paintings register as inspired slapdashery with the sum of the wayward facture being positive. There are some paintings that Cezanne did of his son dressed like a clown that hit me in a similar fashion. But they will be the first images that I seek out.
What I find “dynamic”:
the use of arcs in brush strokes, e.g. arcs at the ends of leaves, arcs in the background that seem to radiate from the plant (large arc in left background, smaller violet horseshoe arc around lower right leaf). These make the plant seem to vibrate, and the plant has a more dominant role in the universe than just its physical confines.
Other vibration source:
the shadows directly behind the plant have red in them, so though they are dark, they are “hot” and counter intuitive since shadows are usually cool colors. Reds probably placed to make greens greener(complementary color thing).
If you like this you might like Manet’s late flower paintings he did while dying in bed from syphilus (sp?), age 50. Done around 1890, each is a different bouquet brought by a visitor, and just stunning in their simplicity. Interestingly,it is about 1890 that Matisse devoted himself to painting. (You can get the book, “The Last Flowers of Manet” by Andrew Forge, on Amazon for about 10 dollars. Just looked and it was out of stock, but have seen this remaindered in museum shops).
I think the most salient feature in this still life is the strong tilt to the right. The pot is right in the middle yet the stem curves and creates this nice movement.
Another thing about the composition is how the central leaf dominates, locally, the rest. The composition is actually kind of flat — and the set-up resembles water lilies’ leaves floating, the smaller ones sprouting from the big one in the epicenter.
Though the colors are bright and the green is especially enchanting, they are still subordinate to the composition, I think.
I see this painting for the first time, I love it.
Martha,
I did see the “Arcs in background” but I missed the significance of the “smaller violet horseshoe arc round the lower right leaf” until I covered it up. Interesting about the red in the shadow.
I will try to find the Manet book.
Elijah,
“the strong tilt to the right is the most salient feature!” yes.
My feelings:
Loving geraniums for their high energy (On Corsica, I once saw an entire wall covered with red geraniums), I was at first taken aback by the puny flower here, most of it in greyish pink. Then, seeing the incredible motions expressed by arcs and tilts, I sensed a striving to the light, a coming into its own, a flower bud on its way to blooming.
The “domination of the central leaf” provides ‘grounding’ for the viewer, not to be sucked into the ether. The position of this leaf seems an artistic liberty. In real life, this leaf would also reach towards the source of light. Did the artist paint what he saw and felt and then, using his artistic experience, configured the position of the central leaf to make the composition work ?
Although I do find a few things interesting about this painting, I can’t really imagine spending $100 for it if it were on display at the local art show. And 100,000 times that much? Would anyone look twice if it didn’t have a certain name attached?
Steve,
The psychology of the liking of art. Fascinating.
Birgit… liking? or kiling it?
Angela,
I am enthralled by the red/pink-blue arcing energy in the painting – that aspect of the picture lives in my mind. But I am troubled by position of the central green leaf. But perhaps, that is the ‘genius’ in painting, providing some ‘disruption’ so that a painting is not just a pretty picture? Someone else may be captivated by the green leaf but be troubled by the energy in the background? Psychology of art liking?
Birgit,
I always find myself mystified about how I feel when faced with the kind of question you pose.
I can sort of imagine what it would have been like to see this kind of still life in 1910 — utterly astonishing (and perhaps also mystifying, but for different reasons). Nowadays, every painter with a pot of color can approach this — but then, she won’t get millions if $$ for her efforts. But then again, neither did Matisse.
In personal terms — I like the geranium. I particularly am fond of the violet, burgundy pink background against which the green leaves vibrate so nicely. I’m even fond of the silly pot.
But I won’t say it’s exactly realistic. Nor is it exactly not-realistic. It’s quite flat in fact, which might be why I like it. It could easily be hand-dyed fabric with some applique and pass for enthralling in some circles.
What strikes me is that we’ve grown so used to the “tricks” that those old guys taught us that we think nothing of them. And yet they were new and fresh (as we were) at one time.
And Oh, yes, that central leaf now reminds me of a bit of smiley-face-dom — and if that doesn’t ruin the picture for you, nothing will.
Truth be told, I wouldn’t mind having painted this….. And come on, Steve, it’s worth $100 — maybe even $125.
OK, I’ll go $200 for it.
What I like best is the color, especially of the vase and background. Of course, June’s right about it seeming less interesting now than it must have once. I’m not saying it’s not worth (in some sense) almost $10 million, but I do believe the same painting would fare quite differently in a different context. It does give one pause.
Birgit,
I don’t think the honking-big, droopy, central leaf is a deliberate disruption of the visual rhythm to enhance the overall effect. One of the things I appreciate about the whole Matisse phenomenon is that the man is so highly regarded as an artist despite his almost complete inability to draw. He was a hideous draughtsman — it’s really all about the color. He was brilliant (pun intended) with color, and that mastery compensates for a lot.
It’s interesting that if you mask out any portion of the image (especially that slash-of-aqua tabletop), or crop in from the sides, the whole thing collapses.
It encorporates serenity, balance and purity… and it’s only a simple geranium pot! There is tension in this painting however evenm though it is devoid of depressing subject matter! on one level happy, cheerful and warm, on another fascinating.
…and the comments show how much it can get people thinking! a work of art to me means different things to different people, and in this respect it has been incredibly successful.
Matisse had an eye that is rare. He could see the visual world with an ability to integrate that world with the human experience. This painting is a refection of that integrated experience. Matisse was one of the first artists to use color in a dynamic way just as Rembrandt used dark and light. But it was Cezanne who showed the way for both Matisse and Picasso. Cezanne opened the door to the 20th century and beyond when he said “Art is Visual”. Matisse formalized the visual intutitiveness of Cezanne with his approach to “field painting”
Terry,
Yesterday at a Pierre Bonnard exhibit at the MET, I learned that he was friends with Matisse. Where do you put Bonnard’s approach to painting?
It is very simple… it hasn’t got anything else crowding the picture’s space…
I think it would fit nicely into a bathroom suite or kitchen… it’s a picture that you dont have to think too much about…there doesn’t appear to be a story behind it and you dont have to consider the thoughts and emotions of the subject…
unless you really wanted to, in which case you could use an artist’s licence and tell the story youself…
then you could post it here and we’d all know the story and then this comment can be deleted for being so long ^ ^