Looking Out of Matisse’s Window

#89014     40″ X 30″     oc

• Matisse: “The Dessert, Harmony of Red” (1908-09)

In this painting by T. F. Chen, even just a very small portion of an interior is shown here, it is quite easy that we can recognize that was borrowed from Matisse’s “Harmony of Red” by its stylized arabesque flora and tapestry-like frontality of color treatment. Through the window we see the Eiffel Tower instead of a green landscape in the original painting.

It’s dark outside and the illuminated Eiffel Tower stands alone. Inside, the dark red of the table in comparison of the bright red on the wall suggests the time of early hours of a winter night, for the lamp is not lit for the family to enjoy the food on the table and the chairs are still empty. As the outside getting dark early in the winter of Paris, dinner is usually prepared earlier.

Matisse repainted the “Harmony of Red” in 1909 out of its original “Harmony of Blue” which was repainted from the first state of “Harmony in Green” of 1908. It’s a grandiose monumental “still life” of 69 3/4″ x 85 7/8″, a masterpiece of that period in Matisse’s artistic career, developing from his early Fauvism to a more personal stylization and coloring. It’s manifested equally in his “Music” and “Dance”. This “Harmony in Red” inspired T. F. Chen to start his “Post-van Gogh” series as the first painting of the series was “Vincent Coming Home” with van Gogh appearing outside the window of this interior of “Harmony in Red”.

The Eiffel Tower has been existing in Paris since 1898 but so few artists in Paris painted this symbolic Icon and Pride of Paris. Why? Imagine, if Matisse paint it, what would it be like?

– T. F. Chen