Dance
Since ancient times dance has become one of the most common subjects in European paintings and sculptures. Matisse said, "I like dance so much. Dance is an amazing thing：life and rhythm". Dance depicts five female dancing bodies circling around with each other, which is simple and fantastic. It neither has concrete details nor boring contents, but describes a relaxing, happy and powerful scene. The colors in the whole painting are quite simple and demonstrate huge spiritual strength in three colors.
The most interesting is that the painting made by Matisse has striking similarities with Dancing-grained pottery basin unearthed by Chinese Qinghai Majiayao culture. Both share striking similarities in the process of composition, lines and color as well as the embodied momentum, which also shows Matisse’s preference for the oriental art and close to eastern traditional styling ideas. Western classical painting lies in the main use of surface-modeling in shape and less in lines, while Matisse’s works just tries to impress people in their simple lines and warm colors. The lines and colors in Dance exactly reflect an enthusiastic and forceful life.
The picture is roughly made of three colors. In accordance with the interpretation of Matisse, he uses the most saturated color to construct the sky, decorates the earth with green and depicts the human body in a bright scarlet. In terms of shape, the characters in the picture are surrounded by a circle like dancing. Careful viewers will find the closest two bodies actually do not hold together. This reserved space seems to be forced to separate or be open for the viewers. If you like, you could join the dance at any time.
