Matisse - The Dance, Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia

The Dance, Matisse, Oil/Canvas, 260 cm × 391 cm (100 in × 150 in), 1909/1910

The Dance by Matisse is considered by scholars to be a defining moment for Matisse and modern art. There are two versions. The preliminary version hangs in the Museum of Modern Art, New York City, USA. The final version hangs in the Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia.

"The pair of panels known as 'The Dance and Music' (also in the Hermitage) are amongst Matisse's most important - and most famous - works of the period 1908 to 1913. They were commissioned in 1910 by one of the leading Russian collectors of French late 19th and early 20th-century art, Sergey Shchukin. Until the Revolution of 1917, they hung on the staircase of his Moscow mansion." - Hermitage Museum

Link The Dance, Full Commentary, Hermitage Museum

Link The Dance (Preliminary Version), Commentary, MoMa

Link Hermitage Museum Web Site

Link MoMa Web Site