The Goldfish - 1912
Pushkin Museum of Art, Moscow

The Goldfish is a painting which shows Matisse's extraordinary talent for creating paintings which make great use of colour. It is an example of Fauvism that Matisse himself made popular. The background is a rainbow of different colours, which are bright and warm in the top section and dark and cold in the lower part of the painting. The four goldfish in the glass, which are the focus of the painting, are a bright and brilliant orange. The are surrounded by a whole host of bright plants and Matisse makes excellent use of the water to reflect the colours and brighten the picture further. Matisse does his best to entrance us in the brightness of the glass and the goldfish in it. The contrast between the top and bottom halves of the painting add to this effect. Like Open Window, which was painted seven years before it, Matisse shows off his ability to use the fauvist techniques which he became famous for to create a work of art.