The painting The Dance and Blue Nude are associated with which artist?

• A. Matisse
• B. Gauguin
• C. Cezanne
• D. Degas

Answer: (A)

This item hinges on recognizing an artist who made bold, nonnaturalistic color the primary vehicle for emotion and meaning. The Dance showcases five dancers moving in a circular rhythm with simplified, flowing forms and vivid color, a hallmark of Henri Matisse’s approach to painting. Blue Nude likewise embodies his interest in reducing form to clear, flat areas of color and contour, using color to express mood rather than to reproduce a lifelike shading. Together, these works are emblematic of Matisse’s early-20th-century push toward expressive color and streamlined shapes, which helped define a movement focused on how color can carry feeling. Other artists listed—though influential in their own right—developed different paths: Gauguin’s Tahitian subjects and symbolic color, Cézanne’s geometric simplification, and Degas’s more naturalistic handling of movement and light. Thus, the artist most closely tied to both paintings is Henri Matisse.