Dancers

Henri Matisse painted one of his most iconic works, Dance (I), in 1909 when Russian industrialist and art collector Sergei Shchukin commissioned the work for his Moscow mansion. For the project, Matisse re-envisioned the circling nude dancers of his brightly colored Joy of Life (1906), in a pared-down palette and simplified lines. This monumental canvas, though completed in just one week and considered a study by Matisse, is among the most significant works of 20th-century art, now held in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York. In the 1920s, Matisse’s obsession with dancers continued. He met the ballerina Henriette Darricarrère who became his most beloved muse, depicting her again and again in paintings, etchings, lithography, and works on paper. Her sculpted body and ability to transform herself into dozens of characters mesmerized Matisse for over seven years, providing an essential study of the human form for the artist.