Henri Émile Benoît Matisse (1869-1954) was a French visual artist, known for his use of colour and original draughtsmanship.
Matisse is commonly regarded 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 colours of his works 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 emphasised 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 cut paper collage.
Matisse was born in Northern France on New Year's Eve in 1869, the oldest son of a wealthy grain merchant. In 1887, he went to Paris to study law, working as a court administrator after gaining his qualification. He started to paint in 1889 after his mother brought him art supplies during a period of convalescence following an attack of appendicitis. He discovered 'a kind of paradise' as he later described it, and decided to become an artist, deeply disappointing his father.
In 1891, he returned to Paris to study art at the Académie Julian under William-Adolphe Bouguereau and at the École Nationale des Beaux-Arts under Gustave Moreau. Initially he painted still lifes and landscapes in a traditional style, achieving reasonable proficiency.
In 1896, Matisse, an unknown art student at the time, visited the Australian painter John Russell on the island of Belle Ile off the coast of Brittany. Russell introduced him to Impressionism and to the work of Vincent van Gogh, who had been a friend of Russell, and gave him a Van Gogh drawing. Matisse's style changed completely, abandoning his earth-coloured palette for bright colours. He later said Russell was his teacher, and that Russell had explained colour theory to him. The same year, Matisse exhibited five paintings in the salon of the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts, two of which were purchased by the state.
With the model Caroline Joblau, he had a daughter, Marguerite, born in 1894. In 1898, he married Amélie Noellie Parayre; the two raised Marguerite together and had two sons, Jean (born 1899) and Pierre (born 1900). Marguerite and Amélie often served as models for Matisse.
Images to download
-
Henri Matisse 104 High Resolution Images
Vendor:Digital Download - 104 imagesRegular price £4.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Henri Matisse (1869-1954) - The Three Sisters (1917)
Vendor:Digital Download - 1 imageRegular price £0.80Regular priceUnit price per -
People that Read - 100 images
Vendor:Digital Download - 100 imagesRegular price £4.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Music in Art - 84 images
Vendor:Digital Download - 84 imagesRegular price £4.00Regular priceUnit price per
Latest Picture Trove Blog Posts
View all-
The Scandal of John Everett Millais and Effie Gray
The scandal involving John Ruskin, his wife Effie, and artist John Everett Millais is a captivating story even after all these years.
The Scandal of John Everett Millais and Effie Gray
The scandal involving John Ruskin, his wife Effie, and artist John Everett Millais is a captivating story even after all these years.
-
Whistler sues John Ruskin, Art Critic, Over a B...
Back in 1877, Whistler sued the critic John Ruskin after the critic condemned his painting Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket
Whistler sues John Ruskin, Art Critic, Over a B...
Back in 1877, Whistler sued the critic John Ruskin after the critic condemned his painting Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket
-
Anne Anderson's Mammoth Wonder Book
Anne Anderson was one of the very first illustrators I discovered early on in my public domain journey. I loved her cheerful colours and picture style that gives a gentle...
Anne Anderson's Mammoth Wonder Book
Anne Anderson was one of the very first illustrators I discovered early on in my public domain journey. I loved her cheerful colours and picture style that gives a gentle...
