Description of the picture:
View of Collioure – Henri Matisse. 1906. Oil on canvas. 53.5 x seventy three cm
Minimal use of halftones, bright open paints, wide free strokes, large planes and associative use of warm and cold tones – this is what this picture is built on. It depicts a small fishing town, just spreading from the heat under the unbearable light of the southern sun. The sensation of heat is transmitted in red, orange and yellow tones, in which the soil around the town is painted, the red-hot walls of the houses and the tile roofs just burning from the heat of light. Even the sky above the bay is painted in pink.
The entire glowing gamut visually balances and cools the saturated blue color of the sea, individual fragments of dark juicy greenery and the cool lilac color of the walls of buildings in shade. In shades of blue, shadows were also resolved, and the shapes and shapes of buildings were emphasized in order to create contrast and convey how good it was to be in the shade of such a house at such a sultry noon and relax from the heat.
In this work it is impossible to find subtle graceful strokes or delicate and refined elaboration of details so characteristic of the works of old masters. Here, the real “wild” temperament is completely raging, which does not recognize any authorities and stereotypes in contemporary art.
At the first glance at the picture, it is very difficult to isolate individual images on it, these numerous saturated color spots are so intense on the organs of vision. Gradually you get used to the ripple of color, and the houses of a small town begin to appear on the plane, the flickering waters of the harbor in the background, the lighthouse and the distant shores in the distance, on the other side of the vast bay. So extremely modest and restrained visual means, masterfully playing with color, the master creates a vivid and memorable work of art."
