Dancing with Matisse

This is the famous Dance...that "in March 1909, Matisse received a commission from the Russian merchant Sergei Shchukin for two large decorative panels, Dance and Music (now in the Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg). This painting was made quickly as a compositional study for Dance, which was intended to hang on a staircase landing at Shchukin's Trubetskoy Palace, in Moscow. The figure at left appears to move purposefully, while the other dancers seem to float weightlessly. The momentum of their movement breaks the circle as the arm of the foreground dancer reaches out. Dance, Matisse once said, evoked "life and rhythm."  According to some, when this long-awaited painting arrived, it was not too well received.  However, it became one of Matisse's most famous work and deemed by many an icon for feminism movement.

Normally, I don't particularly like Matisse's style but some pieces are captivating...like this series of bronze sculptures of Jeannette.(Henri Matisse. (French, 1869-1954). Jeannette (I). Issy-les-Moulineaux, early 1910).  I love the minimalist display on a blank wall.  It's no secret that presentation of art (and everything for that matter) is equally important as the object of display itself.... Can we quote Marshall McLuhan..."Medium is the Message"?