La Danse (first version) – (Henri Matisse) ◄ Previous Next ►

Artist: Henri Matisse

Style: Fauvism

Topic: Music

Technique: Oil

This is the preliminary version of two related paintings made by Henri Matisse between 1909 and 1910. In March 1909 Matisse painted this, known as La Danse (I). This painting is study for the second version. It was compositional study and uses paler colors and less detail. The painting was highly regarded by the artist who once called it "the overpowering climax of luminosity"; it is also featured in the background of Matisse's La Danse with Nasturtiums (1912). It is now in the Museum of Modern Art, New York.