Curator, Ann Temkin: Nude with White Scarf is a painting that was pretty provocative at the time. This is a very out-there pose. And as you can see in the dark areas, especially under her right leg and under her left arm, Matisse did a lot of moving around and lots of rejiggering of the composition, in order to get that pose.
Artist, Lisa Yuskavage: The goal in this painting is not to attract or to arouse. The black lines are aggressive.
I'm Lisa Yuskavage and I'm a painter.
It pushes away from that idea of what had been the function of a nude painting, which is to just look at flesh.
Artist, Faith Ringgold: I see his interpretation of a woman. He thinks of women as powerful. I don't think he thinks they're weak at all, not at all.
Ann Temkin: The other incredible thing about this painting is that white scarf. It's not just passively flowing. It's really got energy to it.
Writer, Siri Hustvedt: The red here has a passionate and sexual quality, it seems to me.
My name is Siri Hustvedt. I'm a writer.
The fact that the scarf is so strategically placed to veil her genitalia makes it suggestive of what's hidden. If you lifted that veil, you could look.
She looks quite relaxed and confident. She seems to be communicating something that is not just come hither. She's thinking.