Henri Matisse

For me, expression does not reside in the passion that bursts forth on a face or that asserts itself through a violent movement. Expression is in the overall arrangement of my painting: the space occupied by the bodies, the empty spaces around them, the proportions, all of this plays a part. Composition is the art of arranging in a decorative manner the various elements at the painter's disposal to express his feelings. In a painting, each part will be visible and will play its proper role, be it a principal or a secondary one. Everything that has no usefulness in the painting is therefore harmful. A painting comprises an overall harmony: Any superfluous detail would steal, in the mind of the spectator, the place of another detail that is essential . . .

Suppose I have to paint a woman's body: First I give it grace, charm, then it is necessary to give it something more. I am going to condense the meaning of this body by seeking its essential lines. The charm will be less apparent at first, but it will emerge in the end from the new image that I will have obtained and which will have a wider meaning, a more fully human one. The charm will be less prominent, because it is not truly characteristic, but it exists nevertheless, contained in the general concept of my forms.

A painting must carry inside itself its total meaning and must impose it on the spectator before he is even aware of the subject. When I see the Giotto frescoes in Padova, I don't worry about which scene of Christ's life I have before my eyes, I understand the feeling that is emerging from it, for it exists in the lines, the composition, and the color, and the title can only confirm my impression . . . .

Henri Matisse, Remarks on Paintings