Henri Matisse

Henri Emile-Benoit Matisse was born in Picardy, France on December 31, 1869. With little interest in art as a youth he studied law and worked as a law clerk in his early 20's. While recovering from a bout of appendicitis 1890, he began to paint and left to study in Paris a year later. He studied at the Academie Julian under Adolphe-William Bouguereau and then at the Ecole des Beaux Arts under Gustave Moreau. Matisse's early work is considered Fauvist, focusing on the expressive qualities of color rather than the descriptive qualities. A peacfull, serene, joyus quality was evident in his paintings that were largely domestic or figurative in nature with a Mediterranean flare. His later works grew in abstaction with biomorphic forms painted in flat color, dominating the composition. Matisse died in Nice on November 3, 1954. Two of his most famous paintings are The Dance and The Flight of Icarus, with countless others included in museums collections around the world. Matisse was a leader of the Parisian avant-garde and perhaps the most important French painter of the 20th century.

Henri Matisse Images:
Acrobats, 1952
Algue Blanche
Apollo
Asia, 1946
Bathing in the Reeds
Composition Fond Bleu
Dance I
Danseuse dans le Fauteuil, sol en Damier, 1942
Etude de femme
Femme Assisea Sa Coiffeuse
Femme Se Reposant
Femmes et Singes
Flowers
Goldfish
Harmony in Yellow
Histories Juives
Inattentive Reader
La Chute
La Seance de Peinture
Nu Bleu I
Nu Bleu II
Pasiphae
Pasiphae Embracing an Olive Tree
Polynesie,la mer
Reclining Nude in a White Dress
Reflection in the Mirror
Still Life with Magnolia
Still Life with Sleeping Woman
Still Life with Vase of Flowers
The Clown - from Jazz
The Thousand and One Nights
Vase of Flowers
Window at Tangiers
Women In a Purple Coat
Zulma