DANCE (I)
HENRI MATISSE, 1909
Amazing, right? You know this one. You've seen it a hundred times. The Matisse. Five people, holding hands, on a hill, and not one of them standing still. And by the way, this is the sketch. His first swing at it. See how soft that pink is? The final, the one in Russia, he cranks to hot red. Start with the big one on the left. She's leaning so far past her own feet she's basically falling. The only thing holding her up is the circle. Now follow her arm to the next dancer. They almost catch. Not quite. There's a gap. And that gap is the whole trick. Close it, and the circle locks. It becomes a logo. A nice decorative ring of happy people. Leave it open, and the dance never finishes. They're still reaching. Still about to connect. That's what keeps it moving. Blue sky. Green hill. Five pink bodies. No room. No shadows. Faces barely there. Look how little it takes. When people saw this, they called it crude. Clumsy. Like he couldn't draw. Matisse just said it had life and rhythm. And honestly, that's the whole argument. People have been doing this forever. Holding hands. Going around in a ring. Weddings, fires, playgrounds, whatever. Before language, probably, somebody was grabbing somebody else's hand and moving in a circle. Matisse grabs that old thing and strips off everything else. Just the rhythm. And get this. He made it for one guy. A collector named Shchukin, who wanted it for his staircase. A staircase. Imagine that. But you can't keep a thing like this in a stairwell. It was already everybody's. So it gets out. And now here it is. Coming back to you like a memory you forgot you had.