The Language of Art

This Study focuses on the dialog between Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso and lays a unique groundwork for instructors in Discipline-Based Art Edu­cation (DBAE). Using two artists, rather than one, it reveals the importance of the basic art elements in a comparative analysis and stylistic variation of both. To show the extent of the artistic communication between Matisse and Picasso, ten still life and portrait groups are analyzed and connected through their brilliant exchange of the elements of art. The conversation in this study is between the language of the artists' works, rather than a verbal exchange between the two. Instead of literal words to create a dialog, it is a conversation between two different personalities by use of the universally used art elements. Matisse and Picasso provide an astonishing artistic interaction that would certainly provide a classroom teacher with motivational dialog and stimu­lating subject in teaching all four areas of Discipline-Based Art Education.