Description

Objective Phenomena

Before studying the painting by Matisse it is necessary to take in what it depicts. Observing the painting is quite a simple task, but very intriguing, because the more you look at it the more you see. When looking at this painting by Matisse, you can see that he used bright colors, which is what originally grabbed my attention. The painting has green paint, white, various reds that make pinks across the painting, and it also has blues, and oranges. Colors were very important to Matisse. The surface of the piece is very chunky, it is painted with oils which helps bring the surface of the painting more dimensional. The image Matisse printed is depicted to be an open window, just like the title of the work. Looking through the window he has show sailboats on the water, and it seems to be around sunset because he used the many colors we usually see in sunsets. The beautiful windows he painted look similar to French style doors, with many pots and plants around the opening of the window.  Quite ironic I assume, because Henri Matisse was a french artist.

Associations

By viewing and describing the things seen in the image, as a viewer, it is also important to associate some things in the image to other items, paintings, and events. Automatically it is simple to relate his painting to everyday known things. For example, I can relate his painting to a tropical vacation. The open window reminds me of a window you would see at the islands. The painting makes me think that someone had just finished sailing before sunset. The plants and vines in front of the window reminds me of a garden, or even of a jungle. Viewing deeper into the image it seems as if someone is looking through the French doors into the window thats open and surrounded by plants, maybe reminiscing on their sailing adventures. 

Emotive Response

The main reason why I choose to write about this work of art was because of the emotional feelings and the response the painting gave me. Personally I am a happy person, I love tropical things, and engaging colors. This paining made me feel all of the above. It was a very pleasing to look at, enough for me to buy a print of the painting from the little museum shop! The painting projects joy and happiness, it reminds me of a place I want to be in. Walking around the museum this piece caught my attention. We were in a dark room and his painting projects light from the subjects and color palette. The subject of the piece is peaceful, and makes me feel relaxed and calm. Viewing the image I can image being the person looking through the open window feeling the ocean breeze against my skin while I’m enjoying the sunset away of any worries that may come. I feel no bit of sadness looking at the paining, it is the type of painting that immediately brightens up ones day, and thats why I choose Matisses’ painting.