Matisse’s La Blouse roumaine is the outcome of six months’ work. Eleven photographs taken by the artist document key stages in this long development. He showed these alongside the painting at Galerie Maeght in Paris, highlighting the assiduous labour of simplification necessary to achieve the fusion of line and colour that he sought. In its final form, details of the model Lydia Delectorskaya have been omitted, scraped away or covered over. The simple oval of the face echoes the curves of the baggy sleeves. The powerful harmony of the three main areas of colour confers great vitality to the...

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Matisse’s La Blouse roumaine is the outcome of six months’ work. Eleven photographs taken by the artist document key stages in this long development. He showed these alongside the painting at Galerie Maeght in Paris, highlighting the assiduous labour of simplification necessary to achieve the fusion of line and colour that he sought. In its final form, details of the model Lydia Delectorskaya have been omitted, scraped away or covered over. The simple oval of the face echoes the curves of the baggy sleeves. The powerful harmony of the three main areas of colour confers great vitality to the painting.

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