Henri Matisse: the Artist Who Revolutionized Color

French artist Henri Matisse (1869 – 1954) was best known for his use of color and his originality. Although recognized first and foremost for his work as a painter, he also worked as a printmaker and sculptor. One of the leaders of Fauvism, he is regarded as one of the most revolutionary visual artists of the twentieth century. His work has been highly influential in the field of modern art and has continued to inspire generations long after his death. 

Read on to find out more about Henri Matisse’s art, life, and legacy. 

Biography of Henri Matisse

Let’s start by answering the question, ‘Who was Henri Matisse?’ Not only was he one of France’s most renowned artists with a career spanning six decades, but he was also the leader of the Fauvist movement. He devoted much of his career to the experimentation of color and imbued his work with distinct Mediterranean vigor. So, where did it all start? Let’s explore. 

Early life

Henri Matise was born in 1869 in the small industrial town of Bohain-en-Vermandois in northern France. He worked as a legal clerk and later studied for a law degree in Paris between 1887 to 1889 and did not show interest in art until he was 20 years old when, back to his hometown to take up a position in a law office, he began taking drawing classes. Recovering from a short illness, he started devoting much more time and attention to creating art. From this moment on, his talent emerged he returned to Paris to pursue formal artistic training to further develop his skills. 

Training and success

Whilst attending the Académie Julian and the École des Beaux-Arts, Matisse learned the traditional “academic way” of creating art. However, he was also exposed to the recent Post-Impressionist work of artists like Paul Cézanne and Vincent van Gogh. He began experimenting with new methods and approaches to producing art and exhibited his work at various galleries around Paris. 

After attracting much attention for his avant-garde approach to creating art, he traveled to the south of France and began creating works that expressed light in new ways. For instance, his works Luxe, calme et volupté (1904-05) and Open Window and Woman with a Hat (1905) are examples of his exploration of light and color. He also exhibited these works, which became a huge success. Art critics began referring to artists that played with light and color like Matisse as ìFauves meaning “wild beasts” and their style, often associated with Expressionism by reason of its use of bold colors and spontaneous brushwork, became known as ‘Fauvism’. Matisse traveled to Italy, Germany, Spain, and Morocco for inspiration, looking for new ways to play with bright colors and light. 

Throughout his career he was well-recognized and art collectors of the caliber of Gertrude Stein bought much of his work. He continued to travel, and eventually moved to Nice with his family where he lived and worked until his death. He continued to work with color and even experimented with elements of Cubism, which he picked up from his close friend Pablo Picasso.  

Later years and death  

Henri Matisse the artist became a well-known and celebrated figure, both within France and the rest of the world. His contribution to Fauvism earned him much recognition and success throughout his career and many high-profile commissions in his later years. After being diagnosed with intestinal cancer in 1941, he was left frequently bedbound and so worked from his home for the remaining years of his life. He died in 1954, at the age of 84, in Nice and was buried nearby.

Style of Henri Matisse’s Art

Henri Matisse’s style is distinguished by the use of color and shape characteristic of Fauvism. With a particular focus on the depiction of the body, he used bright colors to depict his subjects, focusing more on shape and feeling rather than a concrete form. After his cancer diagnosis, he experimented with cut-outs that could be made from his bed. His assistant would prepare papers with different colored gauche so that he could create colored cut-outs and place them on a canvas. In the beginning, the cut-outs were on small canvases but over time he expanded unto large murals that could fill a whole room.

Henri Matisse’s Famous Artworks

Henri Matisse’s artworks have inspired artists for generations. His work is the epitome of Fauvism and was highly influential in avant-garde circles in the early to mid 20th century. Here are some of his most famous pieces. 

Joy of Life (1905)

Henri Matisse’s Fauvist approach is apparent in Joy of Life (1905). Depicting an Arcadian landscape filled with colored forests, meadows, sea, and sky and populated by nude figures, the artwork is emblematic of how Mattisse used color to express emotions and his views of nature. Whilst living in Paris, the artist spent many summers in the south of France sketching landscapes and developing the ideas into larger compositions upon his return.

Dance (1910)

A milestone in the development of modern art, Dance (1910) was made at the request of Russian businessman and art collector Sergei Shchukin, who left this large decorative panel to the Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Matisse’s figures are drawn loosely in vibrant colors, with almost no interior definition, giving them the impression of light-hearted, joyous entities dancing across the canvas. By reason of its rhythmical succession of dancing nudes, the artwork has often been compared to Igor Stravinsky’s musical work The Rite of Spring.

Snail (1953)

During his time recovering from cancer, Henri Matisse began experimenting with collage works, known as ‘gouaches découpées’. He made these pieces by using cut-outs from paper that had been painted with gouache – a water-soluble paint that, unlike watercolor, is opaque. The cut-out shapes were stuck down onto a background by one of his assistants, following his instruction. In Snail (1953), he used colored shapes in the center of the work to represent the spiral pattern of a snail’s shell. The vibrant colors echo Matisse’s commitment to Fauvism. 

Henri Matisse as a Sculptor

Matisse explored sculpture from early on in his artistic career and would often take breaks from painting and use clay to sculpt. Rather than a preferred artistic medium, for Matisse sculpting was a means to an end, as he used it as as a way to inform his practice in the two dimensions.

Legacy of Henri Matisse

Although only a selection of Henri Matisse’s artworks is shown here, by the end of his career the artist had produced countless pieces ranging various media. He is remembered as one of the greatest painters of the 20th century, both in France and also around the world, and is a major figure of contemporary art history.

Relevant sources

Discover artworks for sale by Henri Matisse on Artland

Keep reading on the Artland Magazine
Learn about Henri Matisse’s Chapelle du Rosaire in ‘From Matisse to Rothko: Artist-Designed Chapels. A Religious Experience’
Discover how Odalisque in Red Trousers by Matisse was stolen and switched with a fake with no one noticing in ‘The Art of Forgery – Art Forgers Who Duped The World’

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