considered by some art historians to be Matisse's masterpiece. Matisse was greatly influenced by the Post-Impressionists, Van Gogh,Gauguin, Paul Cezanne, and like Van Gogh was an ardent admirer of Japanese art and motifs. He developed his style using areas of flat, brilliant and often unnatural colour and invariably outlined his forms in a manner similar to Van Gogh. This fauvist painting, like impressionism led by artist Claude Monet, has no central focal point. The painting initially was ordered as 'Harmony in Blue,' but Matisse was dissatisfied with the result, so he painted it over with his preferred red.