Henri Matisse's Great Leap Forward

The Moroccans, 1915–16
Matisse conceived The Moroccans in 1912, stretched a canvas for it in 1913, returned to it in 1915, and began working on the final canvas early in 1916, after lengthening it by sixty centimeters. The artist often emphasized that he painted out as much as he added. Here, black is the principal agent of elimination, at once simplifying, dividing, and joining the work as a composition of three distinct parts. "The Moroccans," he later said, "is difficult to describe...with words. It is the beginning of my expression with color, with blacks and their contrasts."

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