DANCE AND THE MUSIC BY MATISSE

In the painting from 1910 called Dance, the evocative use of colors and stylized shapes have given rise to a new artistic language. Together with The Music, also on display here, this is the first major work by Matisse to exclusively highlight the relationship between its elements rather than the subject matter.  In Dance, there are five figures dancing in a circle. Their intense orange color is in stark contrast to the green background of the earth and the intense blue of the sky. The work represents the union between humans and heaven and earth. Simple though it appears, there is nothing superfluous on this canvas.

 

An interesting fact: Both Dance and The Music were commissioned by the Russian tycoon Sergei Shchukin to decorate the spiral staircase of his palace in Moscow. After the revolution, however, many works from his collection were confiscated and ended up at the Hermitage.