The Dessert: Harmony in Red by Henri Matisse – Canvas Giclée Print

$99.00$199.00

The high-resolution canvas revisits the masterpiece “The Dessert: Harmony in Red (The Red Room)” created in 1908 by Henri Matisse. As one of the French artist’s most significant paintings, it is part of the masterpiece series at Pigment Pool. The artwork was decisive for the development of modern painting and emblematic for the Fauvism art movement, embodying emancipation from Western art’s traditional conventions of representation.

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Henri Matisse was one of the key leaders of Fauvism, the early 20th-century avant-garde art movement. Artists of the movement radically reinterpreted the use of colour as a structural and expressive element detached from literal description. The paintingThe Dessert: Harmony in Red (The Red Room)” is emblematic of the Fauvism art movement regarding the use of colour, especially the stark contrast between, bright and saturated colours, the usage of rhythmic patterns, and the flatness of the overall composition.

Where is Henri Matisse’s “The Dessert: Harmony in Red” today?

The original of Henri Matisse’s “The Dessert: Harmony in Red (The Red Room)” is on permanent display as part of the collection of the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg.

What’s in it?

With “The dessert: Harmony in Red (The Red Room)” Matisse turned to a motif common to the works of his time: A room decorated with vases, fruits, and flowers. Yet the mode of representation differs largely from earlier paintings of the chosen genre and evoked sharp condemnation among art critics, the public, and the Salon de Paris. The picture presents a dining room, the walls decorated with luxuriant raspberry red fabric with energetic twists of blue patterns, which seem to sink down from the wall, taking over the surface of the table, conveying an impression of continuity. Only a thin line distinguishes the edge of the table, almost completely absorbing the three-dimensional illusion of the room, confirming the decorative quality of the canvas.
Within the flatness of the scene emerges a woman, most likely a servant, setting the table with a fruit bowl, bread, and two decanters, one of which contains red wine. In front of the window a chair is turned towards the viewer, as if to invite him to sit down. The window behind opens the composition, giving sight onto a building behind a winding terrain. Shapes inside the room like the yellow dots of fruit are echoed outside on the open field, most likely depicting a green garden with flowering plants, allowing the eye to move into the depth of the canvas. Yet the painting lacks a central focal point following the example of the paintings of the Impressionism art style.

What’s the context?

Henri Matisse’s “The dessert: Harmony in Red (The Red Room)” was commissioned by the influential Russian collector Sergei Shchukin with whom Matisse had a long association. Shchukin had originally ordered a “Harmony in Blue” for his dining room of his Moscow mansion. Yet the composition underwent several metamorphoses reaching the present state: Matisse first decided to paint it in green as dominant colour, then reworked it into blue. However, the artist was dissatisfied with the result and painted it over with the dazzling raspberry red, calling it a “decorative panel”.
“The Red Room” shows the strong influence by leaders of Impressionism and Post-Impressionism such as Vincent van Gogh, Paul Gauguin, and Paul Cezanne, especially regarding the adoption of flatness in the style of Ukiyo-e Japanese art prints and the use of unnatural colour.

Chatter and Prattle

Henri Matisse – Facts:

  • The Russian art collector Sergei Shchukin played a decisive role in Matisse’s creation of artwork. The collector was one of Matisse’s foremost patrons and early connoisseurs of modern art. Shchukin had been familiar with Matisse’s work since 1904, and between 1906 and 1914, he acquired some forty important paintings by Matisse for his house in Moscow. Among these paintings were “The Dance” and “Music” as well as “The Red Room”. Prior to the Russian Revolution in October 1917, Shchukin’s entire collection was open to the public one day a week, providing one of the only places to see European modern art in Moscow.
  • Matisse’s paintings were considered shocking in the morally restrictive atmosphere of Russian society at the beginning of the 20th century. These qualities notwithstanding were qualities, that Shchukin appreciated most. Besides artwork created by Matisse, he amassed a large collection including paintings by Paul Gauguin, Vincent van Gogh, Paul Cézanne, and Pablo Picasso.

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Recommended Readings:

This article may contain compensated links. Please read Disclaimer for more info. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

Volkmar Essers (2016): Matisse (Basic Art Series 2.0)

Rene Percheron et al. (2004): Matisse: From Color to Architecture

Karen Butler et al. (2016): Matisse in the Barnes Foundation: 3 Vol. Set

John Cauman (2019): Matisse: In 50 Works

Hilary Spurling (2005): Matisse the Master: A Life of Henri Matisse: The Conquest of Colour: 1909-1954

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