Henri Matisse’s The Green Stripe: A Fauvist Portrait
Henri Matisse’s *The Green Stripe*
Author
Henri Matisse (Le Cateau-Cambrésis, 1869 – Nice, 1954)
Work
The Green Stripe or Madame Matisse
Technique
Oil and tempera on canvas
Style
Fauvism
Colors are the most important theme of the work. The origin of the word “Fauvism” is a phrase from the French critic Louis Vauxcelles. This style introduced a divisive, flat, and free treatment with bold colors. In this composition, Matisse matched the first German expressionists. The movement was formally presented as such in 1907.
Chronology
1905-1906
Location
Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Copenhagen
Description and Analysis of *The Green Stripe*
In 1905, Matisse produced images that broke with all preceding styles. Among these works, The Green Stripe stands out, an expressionistic portrait of his wife. The title derives from the broad stroke of brilliant green that defines his wife’s forehead and nose.
The work depicts a portrait of Matisse’s wife. The woman is posed slightly in front of the canvas, offering a look of calm and tension at the same time.
The most important aspect of the composition is the interplay of lines and colors that define the portrait. Sharply defined lines form the boundary of the face and clothing, drawn with an apparent lack of order and common sense in their implementation. The famous green stripe that gives the painting its name defines the two sides of the face. To differentiate the lighter side from the darker, two colors, orange and pink, are used, which is inconsistent with a naturalistic depiction of a portrait.
The color composition was considered a horror at the Salon d’Automne of the Fauves in 1905. The range of bright colors applied to the background and clothes, but especially the face, made the painting even more provocative.
Technical and Stylistic Aspects
Matisse’s painting combines the idea of color saturation with a more intimate and private subject: the portrait of his wife. His style shows a preference for a sense of decorative painting. His artistic philosophy could be summed up as “a painting need not necessarily be identical to the world around us.”
Evolution of Matisse’s Work
Matisse was born in Le Cateau-Cambrésis, in northern France, on December 31, 1869. He came from a middle-class family. He studied law in Paris between 1887 and 1889. In 1890, while recovering from appendicitis, he was attracted to painting. In 1892, he abandoned his career as a lawyer and was admitted to the School of Fine Arts.
His first style was a conventional form of naturalism, making numerous copies of the pictures of the old masters. He studied contemporary art, especially that of the Impressionists.
Matisse’s true artistic liberation came under the influence of Paul Gauguin, Paul Cézanne, and Vincent van Gogh. Later, between 1903 and 1904, Matisse encountered the pointillist painting of Henri-Edmond Cross.
Still life played a leading role in the maturation of Matisse’s paintings. His first painting was a still life with books. In 1902, he created *Yellow Flowers*.
In May 1906, he traveled to Algeria for two weeks. Upon his return to France, he painted *Blue Nude* in Collioure, in which the influence of African sculpture and the use of poorly differentiated colors can be observed.
Matisse won the approval of influential critics and collectors. Among his most important commissions was one from the Russian collector Sergei Shchukin, who asked for mural panels illustrating dance and music themes: *Music* and *Dance*. His figures of dancers, and in general all human figures, emphasize the expressiveness of form.
From 1917 until his death, Matisse spent much time in southern France, especially in Nice, where he began the period called “Nicene,” which is dominated by the theme of women. By 1928, he simplified his forms and became particularly interested in line and color.
During his later years, due to the difficulty of handling the brush, he turned to *découpage* (a technique using cut paper or gouache), creating brilliant, colorful works that bordered on abstraction. In 1952, the Matisse Museum was inaugurated. Matisse died in Nice on November 3, 1954.