Woman Seated in an Armchair

A woman dressed in boldly patterned clothing sits in a yellow armchair, placed inside a room with a blue floor, a green cabinet, and a pink cactus plant nearby. The painting, titled Woman Seated in an Armchair, was made in 1940 by Henri Matisse in oil and is held today at the National Gallery of Art. The work came to the museum as a gift given in memory of a husband. Matisse, born in 1869 and died in 1954, worked in France and is associated with Fauvism, and he also created the notable work Dance. One detail worth noticing is how the sharp contrast between the yellow chair and the surrounding blue, green, and pink furnishings gives the room a sense of layered pattern and color rather than deep spatial realism.