How does Blue Nude III create the shape of a human figure from cut paper?

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Henri Matisse stands in a studio wearing a painter's smock, holding a palette beside a wooden ladder, with abstract artwork visible in the background. — Henri Matisse French artist Henri Matisse, photograph by Alvin Langdon Coburn, 1913.

In his Blue Nude III (1952–53), Henri Matisse utilized a technique he called "drawing in paper" to create the human figure. Rather than painting directly onto a canvas, he arranged cut-out sections of painted gouache, finding this process more manageable following a period of physical incapacity.12

Crucially, the definition of the human form in this work is not found in the cut-outs themselves, but rather in the spaces between them. By manipulating these shapes, Matisse achieved an effect that functions like a two-dimensional relief, successfully blending color and form while maintaining a recognizable representation of the human body.12