Henri Matisse
Grand red interior 1948
Henri Matisse (1869-1954)

《Large Red Interior》 Canvas,
Oil paint 146 cm x 97 cm Paris, Pompidou Center　
Painting size: [A] 36.5x24.25 cm [B] 73x48.5 cm
Work code: MatGra

As the title of the work suggests, it is a large canvas with an intense red color that spreads throughout.
For a moment, you can't tell the depth and think it's a flat surface, but the wall on which the two paintings hang intersects with the floor at right angles, forming a spatial composition.
Throughout his life, Henri Matisse painted works with an interior theme, including his studio and travel destinations.

The theme of "interior" has established a category in Matisse's work. Over the years, Matisse went through various changes in his expression, and continued to work on the subject of ``interiors,'' and this work is the last one he painted indoors in his later years. In his later years, Matisse focused on paper-cutting works, but this work, based on this method of expression, has a more improvised, cut-out-like feel than his early interior works. You can even feel the play.

While red dominates the entire painting, the artist seems to be enjoying the juxtaposition and contrast of paired objects.
Two paintings, two tables, two pieces of animal fur - objects with different shapes, colors, and motifs are painted in pairs, but the colors and shapes are different, and they are maintained in exquisite balance. Even the animal fur is humorously depicted to make it appear as if it were alive.
The black outlines appear to stand out from the intense red background, making up the entire painting space. Matisse was a painter who used red in particular among his many rich colors.

However, there are still photographs taken when Matisse created this work, which show that the color of the wall was not originally ``red''. The reason why he changed the colors midway through the painting can be seen as because he chose colors that resonated with the artist's emotions when he was painting, rather than painting colors that were unique to the object.

``I feel through color, so my paintings will continue to be organized by color,'' are the words of Matisse, who is unique to the ``magician of color.''