"Blue Monday"
20"x16"
Layla Wu
I thought of Henri Matisse when I was working on "Blue Monday".
Before leaving for Moscow, Olya handed out copies of Matisse's letter to Mr. Henry Clifford. I read the letter a couple of times and forgot all about it. However nothing in life goes waste, what we saw, heard and felt, will somehow find a way into our current work. When I was in front of a live model days later deciding on the composition , a few sentences from the letter struck me out of nowhere. "I have always tried to hide my own efforts and wished my works to have the lightness and joyousness of a springtime which never lets anyone suspect the labors it has cost." Matisse wrote in the letter. "It's only after years of preparation that the young artist should touch color - not color as description, that is, but as a means of intimate expression." At that moment, the thought of Matisse gave me permissions to be bold, bold enough to trust and follow my instinct. I changed my position of the easel and rearranged my setup so I could capture the model and her mirrored image. "Then he (the young artist) can hope that all the images, even all the symbols, which he uses, will be the reflection of his love for things, " Matisse continued, "a reflection in which he can have confidence if he has been able to carry out his education, with purity, and without lying to himself. He will place it in accordance with a natural design, unformulated and completely concealed, that will spring directly from his feelings..."
Today is a remarkable day - I start to appreciate Henri Matisse.
"Odalisque with Magnolias"
Henri Matisse
Oil on Canvas
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