#1: Harmony in Red

 

Last summer, I purchased a phone case from ArtPointOne, an online store that sells fine art gifts printed on everyday items: ceramic mugs, tote bags, and even Apple Watch bands. At first, I was torn between Vincent Van Gogh’s “Skull of a Skeleton with Burning Cigarette” (1886) and Gustav Klimt’s “The Kiss” (1907-08). But without hesitating, I decided on Henri Matisse’s “The Dessert: Harmony in Red” (1909) for only three reasons: it caught my attention immediately, it portrayed a woman who did not look like me, but at the time, felt like me, and, in all honesty, red is my favourite color.

“The Dessert: Harmony in Red,” also known as “The Red Room,” was first exhibited as “Harmony in Blue” in 1908. However, Matisse was dissatisfied with the result and smeared it red, becoming the predecessor for “The Red Studio” (1911).

Art has a way of capturing us in the space and time in which it premiered. What was deemed confusing and obtuse for its time is now celebrated as a pivotal work of modernist art. The present has no way of telling how groundbreaking the future will be. “Harmony in Red” is a skilful impression of the illusion of space, but it’s the color that impresses me.

Red is the genesis of color theory. It is the first color a baby can identify, after black and white. Enzo Ferrari once said if you ask a child to draw a car, he will certainly draw it red. It's the rouge of your mother’s lipstick. One thinks of February. The infamous red-bottomed heels, Louboutin, or those of King Louis XIV. Its rich, velvety hue tends to be the most potent of all juices: beets, berries and blood. Everyone has a red hair phase. It is the colour that demands attention and evokes a response, a hot, loud, wicked, drunken response. Whether or not we are processing the colour the same way— because we certainly are not — is what makes red a fundamental gateway into understanding our emotional capacity to converse with color.

“Harmony in Red” is my favorite red painting. The flat red hue, scattered by prickly vines and indigo flowers, sprawls across the composition, creating a rhythm of foliage patterns across the wallpaper. My phone case fails to show the open window on the left-hand side, exposing a green garden. One may feel hypnotized by the intensity of the rouge wallpaper. The painting is an example of the effects of color, only enhanced by the viewer’s capacity to distinguish the collapsed spatial dimension. Even the maid, coddling bowls of red and yellow fruit, is displaced from her usual sight of subject importance. It’s as baffling as Matisse had intended it to be. Picture this: a woman is sulking in a red room, but it’s certainly not her we’re looking at.

Why I decided on red is beyond my selfish reasons. I chose it because it is the color of experimentation. It has often inspired the artistic palette that is my life. It has made me emotionally intelligent, alert, and has emboldened my character. Through many first impressions, I’m always learning what it means to discern red. It is rich in emotion and strength, and aggressive by nature. It forces you to feel something: red is authority.

I strive to be seen in red (always), as I strive to be seen by you all, here, week by week, with art historical analysis and a hint of personal interpretation.

I hope to make you all live in colour, and by the end of this journey, we’ll paint the town red.


- T