Dance, Dance

Dance II by Henri Matisse

   Henri Matisse, one of the most influential artists of the 20th century, led the Fauvism movement with his high degree of abstract paintings. One painting in particular, The Dance II, is recognized as “a key point of [his] career and in the development of modern painting” (Russell, 1996). Originally, this painting started with a previous work titled Dance, which was pretty much a draft for his commissioned work, but decided to incorporate more color into the painting. The two versions were inspired by Matisse’s work, Joy of Life. The painting depicts 5 naked men and women dancing in a circle, while holding hands. Matisse uses bold outlines to isolate the intense brick red color of the nude bodies, the solid green grass, and the intense dark blue skies.

    The dancing nudes express Matisse’s feelings toward emotional liberation, and the joy of being free. It’s almost like the metaphor of having nothing weighing you down (clothing), you are free to dance with no care in the world. Symbolically, clothes can represent the rise of industrialism, and by not having any type of clothes represented on the figures, it shows that they are liberated with pleasure.

 The painting can sometimes can be associated with the “Dance of the Young Girls” from the famous musical The Rite of Spring, by Igor Stravinsky. The Rite of Spring is an orchestral concert, and the music for the “Dance of the Young Girls” kind of reminds me of Jaws. Some scenes that I watched from a Youtube, as well as pictures from the internet, seem to capture the essence of the painting quite beautifully.

    What this painting mainly reminds me of is the movie, “The Crucible,” the scene where the 7 girls dance with the black slave, Tituba, in the forest. Do you remember that? Arnason’s textbook, says that Matisse tries to capture the joyful feeling of being free in this picture, but all I am led to see is some sort of which craft, thanks to pop culture.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JU4hhYOYAk

Arnason, H. Harvard. History of Modern Art: Painting, Sculpture, Architecture. New York: H.N. Abrams, 1968. Print.

Cacace, Christopher. "History and Analysis of Dance II & Music by Henri Matisse." Yahoo! Contributor Network. Yahoo, 3 May 2010. Web. 11 Feb. 2013.

Dabrowski, Magdalena. "Henri Matisse (1869–1954)". In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/mati/hd_mati.htm (October 2004)

Russell T. Clement. Four French Symbolists. Greenwood Press, 1996. Page 114.