Henri Matisse's Great Leap Forward

Portrait of Yvonne Landsberg, 1914
The sitter in this painting was a part of a circle of friends who watched the artist work on the canvas over a period of two months. Yvonne Landsberg's brother, Albert, recounted that Matisse "entirely repainted the whole portrait at each sitting." The final image suggests a process of molting or regeneration, and suggests a new way of working for the artist. Instead of searching for a subject's essence by relying on sculpture or on drawn or painted versions, Portrait of Yvonne Landsberg demonstrates how the act of creation itself became Matisse's true subject at this time.

• Article: Great Leap Forward