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Henri Matisse was a French visual artist known for his use of color and fluid draftsmanship. He was a leading figure in modern art, responsible for significant developments in painting and sculpture throughout the early 20th century.
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About the Henri Matisse
Henri Emile Benoit Matissewas a French visual artist, known for both his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a draughtsman, printmaker, and sculptor, but is known primarily as a painter.
Matisse is commonly regarded, along with Pablo Picasso, as one of the artists who best helped to define the revolutionary developments in the visual arts throughout the opening decades of the twentieth century, responsible for significant developments in painting and sculpture.
The intense colourism of the works he painted between 1900 and 1905 brought him notoriety as one of the Fauves (French for “wild beasts”). Many of his finest works were created in the decade or so after 1906, when he developed a rigorous style that emphasized flattened forms and decorative pattern. In 1917, he relocated to a suburb of Nice on the French Riviera, and the more relaxed style of his work during the 1920s gained him critical acclaim as an upholder of the classical tradition in French painting. After 1930, he adopted a bolder simplification of form. When ill health in his final years prevented him from painting, he created an important body of work in the medium of cut paper collage.
His mastery of the expressive language of colour and drawing, displayed in a body of work spanning over a half-century, won him recognition as a leading figure in modern art.
Frequently Asked Questions
Henri Matisse was a French visual artist who lived from 1869 to 1954. He was known for his use of color and fluid draftsmanship, and is considered one of the artists who helped define the revolutionary developments in visual arts during the early 20th century.
In addition to painting, Henri Matisse was also a draughtsman, printmaker, and sculptor, though he is primarily known as a painter.
Matisse is commonly associated with the Fauvist movement, a style characterized by the bold use of color. He was known for his intense colourism in works he painted between 1900 and 1905.
After developing a rigorous style emphasizing flattened forms and decorative patterns in the 1900s, Matisse later adopted a more relaxed style in the 1920s that gained him critical acclaim. In his later years, he shifted to a bolder simplification of form.
When ill health prevented him from painting in his final years, Henri Matisse created an important body of work in the medium of cut paper collage.
Matisse is commonly regarded, along with Pablo Picasso, as one of the artists who best helped to define the revolutionary developments in the visual arts throughout the opening decades of the twentieth century.
In 1917, Matisse relocated to a suburb of Nice on the French Riviera, and the more relaxed style of his work during the 1920s gained him critical acclaim as an upholder of the classical tradition in French painting.
33 Quotes by Henri Matisse
- 1.
I would like to recapture that freshness of vision which is characteristic of extreme youth when all the world is new to it.
Henri MatisseFrench artist
- 2.
Time extracts various values from a painter’s work. When these values are exhausted the pictures are forgotten, and the more a picture has to give, the greater it is.
Henri MatisseFrench artist
- 3.
I do not literally paint that table, but the emotion it produces upon me.
Henri MatisseFrench artist
- 4.
A young woman has young claws, well sharpened. If she has character, that is. And if she hasn’t so much the worse for you.
Henri MatisseFrench artist
- 5.
I have been no more than a medium, as it were.
Henri MatisseFrench artist
- 6.
Creativity takes courage.
Henri MatisseFrench artist
- 7.
An artist must never be a prisoner. Prisoner? An artist should never be a prisoner of himself, prisoner of style, prisoner of reputation, prisoner of success, etc.
Henri MatisseFrench artist
- 8.
I’m growing old, I delight in the past.
Henri MatisseFrench artist
- 9.
Jazz is rhythm and meaning.
Henri MatisseFrench artist
- 10.
Cutting into color reminds me of the sculptor’s direct carving.
Henri MatisseFrench artist
- 11.
It is only after years of preparation that the young artist should touch color – not color used descriptively, that is, but as a means of personal expression.
Henri MatisseFrench artist
- 12.
Exactitude is not truth.
Henri MatisseFrench artist
- 13.
A picture must possess a real power to generate light and for a long time now I’ve been conscious of expressing myself through light or rather in light.
Henri MatisseFrench artist
- 14.
There is nothing more difficult for a truly creative painter than to paint a rose, because before he can do so he has first to forget all the roses that were ever painted.
Henri MatisseFrench artist
- 15.
You study, you learn, but you guard the original naivete. It has to be within you, as desire for drink is within the drunkard or love is within the lover.
Henri MatisseFrench artist
- 16.
In love, the one who runs away is the winner.
Henri MatisseFrench artist
- 17.
Instinct must be thwarted just as one prunes the branches of a tree so that it will grow better.
Henri MatisseFrench artist
- 18.
It has bothered me all my life that I do not paint like everybody else.
Henri MatisseFrench artist
- 19.
I don’t know whether I believe in God or not. I think, really, I’m some sort of Buddhist. But the essential thing is to put oneself in a frame of mind which is close to that of prayer.
Henri MatisseFrench artist
- 20.
Impressionism is the newspaper of the soul.
Henri MatisseFrench artist
- 21.
An artist must possess Nature. He must identify himself with her rhythm, by efforts that will prepare the mastery which will later enable him to express himself in his own language.
Henri MatisseFrench artist
- 22.
In the beginning you must subject yourself to the influence of nature. You must be able to walk firmly on the ground before you start walking on a tightrope.
Henri MatisseFrench artist
- 23.
Work cures everything.
Henri MatisseFrench artist
- 24.
Drawing is like making an expressive gesture with the advantage of permanence.
Henri MatisseFrench artist
- 25.
There are always flowers for those who want to see them.
Henri MatisseFrench artist
- 26.
What I dream of is an art of balance, of purity and serenity devoid of troubling or depressing subject matter – a soothing, calming influence on the mind, rather like a good armchair which provides relaxation from physical fatigue.
Henri MatisseFrench artist
- 27.
I have always tried to hide my efforts and wished my works to have a light joyousness of springtime which never lets anyone suspect the labors it has cost me.
Henri MatisseFrench artist
- 28.
I don’t paint things. I only paint the difference between things.
Henri MatisseFrench artist
- 29.
He who loves, flies, runs, and rejoices; he is free and nothing holds him back.
Henri MatisseFrench artist
- 30.
Derive happiness in oneself from a good day’s work, from illuminating the fog that surrounds us.
Henri MatisseFrench artist
- 31.
I wouldn’t mind turning into a vermilion goldfish.
Henri MatisseFrench artist
- 32.
My curves are not crazy.
Henri MatisseFrench artist
- 33.
With color one obtains an energy that seems to stem from witchcraft.
Henri MatisseFrench artist