The nightmare of the white elephant

This Matisse picture, a plate in the album Jazz, was in a very interesting exhibition focusing on multiple copies (various printing techniques including lithographs, etching, stencils, linocuts etc) at the Goulandris Gallery of modern art in Pangrati.

Matisse's white elephant in captivity, in a circus perhaps, is dancing on a ball, while memories of its native jungle/forest come stabbing like daggers. Very powerful.