The cut-outs pulsate with energy. Matisse seems to have executed the cut-outs with great joy. It is a simplification. Over the years I have developed some ideas, based on observations by Matisse, that have helped me to view and to meditate upon the cut-outs and the procedures which Matisse followed in making them. The cut-out allowed Matisse to fashion shape and color at one and the same time.
Colors directly affect the emotions.
A blue for example, accompanied by the brilliance of its complementaries, acts upon the feelings like a sharp blow on a gong. The cut-outs, especially the larger ones, posted on the walls of Matisse's studio, become a decorative, highly ornamental environment that was and is aesthetically and spiritually pleasing. We have countless photographs to prove that Matisse was his own interior decorator. Jazz , indeed, and almost all of the other cut-outs I have seen, abound with lively improvisation. Each cut-out shape is an exercise in fresh observation and execution.