L’Atelier rouge is one of the four symphonic interiors that Henri Matisse painted for the collector Sergei Shchukin in 1911. The symbolism of the colour rhythm and the seemingly careless composition express the artist’s detachment from the tradition of Western art. The predominant means of expression is colour: L’Atelier rouge is dominated by a uniform colour tone; there is no perspective or spatial relationships, construction means are neglected. The drawing frees itself from the constraints of the chiaroscuro, coming close to decorative abstraction. 

My composition develops through unusual juxtapositions: saxophone multiphonics, amplified waterphone, sounds of the electric guitar and from the interior of the piano. The forms of traditional musical discourse are deformed, instead following a logic of pure tension. 

© Editions Henry Lemoine  

Hugues Dufourt