“YOUNG SAILOR I” and “Young Sailor II” (pictured above) are almost exactly the same size, they share the same subject and were both created by Henri Matisse in the Mediterranean fishing village of Collioure during the summer of 1906. The paintings, so unlike anything being done at the time, seemed shockingly radical. Viewed now, hanging side-by-side, in “Matisse: In Search of True Painting” at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the biggest shock comes from seeing how different they are.
In both, a youth wears a peaked cap, blue pullover and green trousers. He sits on a wooden chair, his left arm leaning on the chair back, hand cradling his head, while his right hand digs into his thigh. But in the instant it takes for the eyes to take in this basic information, dramatic differences emerge. In “Young Sailor I” the fellow looks out warily from the corner of his eyes; his thick, red lips are downturned. He seems ill at ease, borderline belligerent as if in a second he will leap up and disappear. The painting’s sketchiness—the almost transparent dashes of blue and green and slashes of red, orange and purple—build on the restlessness conveyed by his expression and pose. It is a bold, moody work.
Bold, however, is too tame a word for “Young Sailor II” with its lurid, solid-pink background, saturated blues and greens of his cap, pullover and trousers, one leg turned up to reveal the fat green-and-white check of the lining. The boy’s glowing-red right ear stands out from a face that looks like an African mask, with large almond-shaped eyes and a pointy nose. This second image was so highly charged, and Matisse was so nervous about its reception, that he pretended it was painted by the postman in Collioure. It was easy to believe the works were not created by the same man.
The exhibition explores Matisse’s experimental process, in which he painted pairs, trios or series of the same subject, re-evaluating and refining his work. He struggled to “strip painting of all inessentials”, to create pure “essence” and to “capture the true matter of things.” It was an emotional, aesthetic and intellectual journey as the artist studied and compared the multiple images he made, rejecting some elements and adopting others as he laboured to become master of his style. This exhibition maps that journey. New York is its final destination, after Paris and Copenhagen. Don’t miss it.
