Woman with Hat, 1905, approximately 31-3/4” x 23-1/2”, is an abstracted portrait of Matisse’s wife. The painting exemplifies the fundamental characteristics of fauvism with its choice of subject (a portrait), energetic paint strokes, and use of unnatural colors. Madame Matisse’s dress, skin, and feathered hat — as well as the background — are all portrayed with unrealistic shades of vivid colors applied with active brushwork. When Woman with Hat was first exhibited, critics gave overwhelmingly unfavorable reviews. Few critics of the time could comprehend why Matisse would chose to paint his wife’s portrait with blotches of unrealistic and garish colors. Today, Woman with Hat is a recognized masterpiece that helped to define fauvism, but more importantly, helped to set the course of modern art.

The Dream, 1940, approximately 31-7/8” x 25-5/8”, uses characteristics common in many of Matisse’s paintings: a female model depicted with sensual line qualities and rich color. In this painting, a sleeping figure rests her head on her right arm, her body gracefully dividing the picture plane into areas of floating color and overlapping shapes. A rich Venetian red defines the perimeter of the painting, contrasting with the white of the sleeper’s blouse and the ink black of her skirt. The line and color of the painting add to its general decorative effect. The Dream readily compares to Picasso’s Woman with Yellow Hair, painted in 1931.

Large Red Interior, 1948, approximately 57-1/2” x 38-1/4”, is the last major painting that Matisse attempted. It is included in the series known as the Vence Interiors, a period when Matisse created some of his greatest works of art. In this artwork, Matisse brings to fruition his fascination with color and line. Literally inundated in Venetian red, the objects that populate Large Red Interior seem to be free from the constraints of gravity. The lines that define the objects (and the interior itself) have no visible vanishing points. In what the viewer might see as the near background, Matisse has included a window open to the outside world and a version of his own painting, The Pineapple, painted earlier in 1948.