Henri Matisse: La Danse, 1909 – Porcelain Art Mug

Henri Matisse painted the first version of La Danse in 1909 as a study for the monumental commission placed by the Russian collector Sergei Shchukin — a work that would hang at the top of the staircase in his Moscow mansion alongside a companion panel, La Musique. The painting shows five figures in a ring, their bodies reduced to bare essentials: pink against green and blue, movement arrested at its most expressive point.

The composition has roots in Matisse's own earlier work — a background group of dancing figures appears in Le Bonheur de vivre (1906) — but in La Danse everything peripheral has been stripped away. What remains is rhythm, colour, and the suggestion of an energy that predates individual consciousness. The painting entered the collection of the Museum of Modern Art, New York, in 1963.

Fine porcelain, 10 oz — 104 mm high, 75 mm across the base. The image runs around the body; handle and rim stay white. Dishwasher and microwave safe.

From the same series: La Gerbe, 1953 · Icarus, 1947 · Self-Portrait, 1930 · The Snail, 1953 · Blue Nude II, 1952 · Nuit de Noël, 1952 · Les Velours, 1947 · La Danse (Barnes Mural), 1933

Henri Matisse, La Danse (first version), 1909, oil on canvas. Museum of Modern Art, New York. Public domain in Switzerland, the EU and the United Kingdom; Matisse died in 1954. This mug is not sold into the United States. Matisse's name identifies the historical artwork; it does not suggest endorsement or affiliation.

Selected by Dr. Walther Fuchs for the Tazzarte collection.