Assignment 9- Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso

Assignment 9- Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso

Pablo Picasso was 12 years younger than Henri Matisse.  The two artists worked at the same time and knew each other personally.  The two of them were a certain type of “friends but enemies.”  They analyzed each other’s work, and they also tried to best each other.  Both Picasso and Matisse went through an evolution of their work.  They both started in a more realistic style.  They are both incredible artists in their own rights.  They have the ability to paint things that are so realistic, but they chose to represent their emotions in other forms.  For example, the piece Woman Reading was one of the first pieces that Matisse did.

Woman Reading, oil, 1894, Henri Matisse

You can see the details in this painting.  It is very beautiful and could easily be compared to the great works of realism art.  Picasso painted a piece called the Old Fisherman.

Old Fisherman, oil, 1895, Pablo Picassa

This piece is so detailed and there is so much depth.  This piece shows us the incredible talent that Picasso possessed.  Both artists could have spent an entire career painting like this, but instead they decided to choose a different kind of art, expressing themselves through styled including cubism. 

            As time goes on, both artist begin to focus less and less on the details and more and more on the shapes and the colors.  A great example of the shift in Matisse’s work was the piece Dance(II).  

Dance(II), oil, 1910, Henri Matisse

There is no longer the details that make a painting look realistic, but rather a focus on the shape and the free flowing motion of the people and the contrast of the colors.  Picasso also shifts focus in the same way, shown in his painting At the Lapin Agile.

At the Lapin Agile, oil, 1905, Pablo Picasso

You can see a similar change that is seen in the Matisse painting.  This painting is a little bit more detailed than Dance (II), but it is still not realistic.  The colors and the shapes have become more important that the details of the face at this point in Picasso and Matisse’s career.

            As time goes on, both artist move further and further away from realism, moving towards abstract art.  The piece Portrait of Lydia Delectorskaya shows the change in the style of Henri Matisse.

Portrait of Lydia Delectorskaya, oil, 1947, Henri Matisse

This piece is very similar in style to Picasso’s painting which is untitled.

Untitled, oil, 1923, Pablo Picasso

Even though the Picasso painting is a distorted shape, you can see the parallels in the two pieces because the Matisse has a distortion in color.  The change in the styles is very drastic from their original works. 

            The final pieces of the two artist’s life are very telling of the way that their careers have progressed.  Henri Matisse turned to using paper cutouts when he could no longer paint.  In 1953, only a year before his death, he made this piece Standing Blue Nude.

Standing Blue Nude, gouache and cut out paper, 1953, Henri Matisse







 Picasso painted a final self-portrait in 1972.

Self Portrait, oil, 1972, Pablo Picasso

This painting also shows how far Picasso has come away from realism.  This piece is both a representation of how he sees the world and how he saw himself.