Seated Nude, Head on Arms (Blue Eyes)

In 1935 Lydia Delectorskaya, Matisse's secretary and assistant, became his regular model. She had already attracted his attention, as we can see from his drawings of 1933-1934, which include this study of 1934. Delectorskaya recalled how the drawing was produced in her memoirs: "Once, while the artist was resting and I was half listening to him... he stopped me decisively: "Don't move!". He opened his pad and sketched me, capturing my most usual, natural pose - my head on my folded arms, resting on the back of the chair." Thus Delectorskaya provided Matisse with one of his favourite motifs, which appeared many times in both his drawings and paintings. The drawing has the impression of a spontaneous sketch of a pose which enraptured the artist, but it is in fact superbly constructed and inspired. The flowing lines of the flexible hands, the elongated fingers, all convey the young woman's natural plasticity. The rhythms are flowing and calm but we sense the movement in her fingers. Matisse's line is purified of anything superfluous, just like the space of the white sheet. As he draws the model's folded hands, the artist creates a sense of the invisible chair on which they rest.