La Gerbe

Scattered leaf and burst-like forms spread across a bright white surface, rendered in blue, green, red, orange, and black, their edges jagged and overlapping in a loose, scattered rhythm. The piece, titled La Gerbe, was made in 1953 using ceramic tile set into plaster, and it is held at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. It came to the museum as a gift given in honor of the institution's twenty-fifth anniversary. Its maker, Henri Matisse (1869–1954), a French artist, was associated with Fauvism and also created the celebrated work Dance. One detail worth lingering on is how the orange and black shapes seem to pivot around the central cluster, giving the whole arrangement a sense of outward motion despite its flat, unshaded color.