Matisse decided to become an artist, moved to Paris, and studied with Moreau at the École des Beaux-Arts. He then experimented with a variety of styles. In this painting, with its vivid contrasts between red and green, he worked in a pointillist manner. Based on optical theory, the Neo-Impressionists Seurat and Signac used pointillism to create paintings filled with light. Matisse, then thirty, used irregular dabs of color freely to accentuate the colors of this painting. The model is posing atop a round stand, around which art students would arrange their easels. Painting the nude was a critical part of their training.