1869-1954
Henri Matisse is an artist of classical greatness, one of the strongest
influences on art of the 20th Century. Matisse's artistic career was long
and varied, covering many different styles of painting from
Impressionism to near Abstractionism. Early on in his career, he was
viewed as a Fauvist, and his use of bright colors reached its peak in
1917 when he began to spend time on the French Riviera. Here he
completed some of his most exciting paintings.
In 1941, Matisse was diagnosed with duodenal cancer and was
permanently confined to a wheelchair, yet was able to complete the
magnificent Chapel of the Rosary in Venice in this condition! He was an
awesomely controlled artist and his art combines colors in unexpected
ways, using new combinations never tried before. He preferred working
in two dimensions, but by the subtlest of color accents, his surfaces
convey the impression of three-dimensional space.
Toward the end of his life, when he was too weak to stand at an easel,
Matisse created his beautiful papercuts, cutting out shapes and
collaging them into sometimes vast pictures, the closest he ever came
to creating Abstract art.
Henri Matisse is an artist of classical greatness, one of the strongest
influences on art of the 20th Century. Matisse's artistic career was long
and varied, covering many different styles of painting from
Impressionism to near Abstractionism. Early on in his career, he was
viewed as a Fauvist, and his use of bright colors reached its peak in
1917 when he began to spend time on the French Riviera. Here he
completed some of his most exciting paintings.
In 1941, Matisse was diagnosed with duodenal cancer and was
permanently confined to a wheelchair, yet was able to complete the
magnificent Chapel of the Rosary in Venice in this condition! He was an
awesomely controlled artist and his art combines colors in unexpected
ways, using new combinations never tried before. He preferred working
in two dimensions, but by the subtlest of color accents, his surfaces
convey the impression of three-dimensional space.
Toward the end of his life, when he was too weak to stand at an easel,
Matisse created his beautiful papercuts, cutting out shapes and
collaging them into sometimes vast pictures, the closest he ever came
to creating Abstract art.
Henri Matisse
