Once or twice a year when I have a few hours free in San Francisco, I make a pilgrimage to visit SFMOMA. I have always been a fan of modern art and seeing the wide variety of creative expression at the museum never fails to recharge my batteries and get me excited to make new stuff.
One work in particular has always been among my favorites: ”The Woman With A Hat,” by Henri Matisse. This painting, which was first exhibited in 1905, was among the first to use color in a non-representational way–in other words, Matisse chose the colors, such as the vivid green in the woman’s face, not to represent the actual colors he saw there, but rather for the emotional response he felt himself when he viewed the woman and also that he hoped to create in the viewer.
Many viewers at the exhibit felt “Woman” was repulsive–why would an artist paint a beautiful lady’s face green! The leading art critics of the day dissed the painting and others in the exhibit, saying, “A pot of paint has been thrown in the face of the public.” Based on the passionate use of color, Matisse and his co-exhibitors were referred to as “fauves,” or wild beasts, and the movement became known as Fauvism.
However, the silver lining of the exhibit for Matisse was that despite the negative criticism, “Woman” was purchased by a member of Gertrude Stein’s family, which provided a significant endorsement for Matisse and his abstract style. Today, “The Woman With A Hat” is one of the pre-eminent pieces in SFMOMA’s permanent collection and is regarded as one of the most important works in the development of modern art.
I am a big fan of this painting and this story for several reasons:
- First, the painting itself is striking and strikingly beautiful. For whatever reason, the greens and oranges and other colors never struck me as strange, they simply appear beautiful and moving.
- I am always a bit awestruck by anyone who can look at the same scene or raw materials as everyone else, for example, a portrait of a young lady, and view it in a way that is totally fresh and original to create something that has never been done before, whether it is a new work of art, a scientific theory, or a new technology, game, web site, or what-not.
- Matisse probably knew many of the viewers and critics would dismiss his abstract works, yet he continued to create and exhibit them because this was his passion–enduring significant risk for his career and his family’s financial well-being in the process.
- This story, among many others, shows that although the public often at first reviles against something that is new or different, and especially something that threatens what they currently know and love, once they get past their initial rejection, they often embrace the new creation and prefer it over the old. This happens constantly with new technology… (Twitter comes to mind).
- It is a great story of the underdog coming out on top.
- Last but not least, when Matisse produced and exhibited “Woman,” he was 35–about ten years older than most of the other artists in the show, and still working away in relative obscurity. As an entrepreneur myself, and several years older than Matisse was at this stage in his career, this is a great example of the fact that even folks who are no longer in their 20′s can create things that are truly new and exciting, and hopefully be successful in the process.
