Biography.
Henri Matisse was born as the son of a grain merchant in the Picardy region of northern France. He studied law and worked as a law clerk. When Henri Matisse was 21 years old he became seriously ill. During the phase of convalescence Matisse started painting and discovered his love for art, which should become his life-long passion.
Two years later, in 1892, he gave up his career as a lawyer. He attended art classes at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris and dabbled in different styles. He then was influenced by the impressionist and post-impressionist painters Pisarro, Cezanne, van Gogh, Gauguin and Paul Signac and by the paintings of W. Turner.
Around the year 1905 he finally found his own style characterized by daring, bright colors executed in a broad brush stroke.
For copyright reasons we cannot show you any art works by Henri Matisse on this web site. Instead we decorated this page with original woodblock prints by contemporary Japanese artist Ryusei Okamoto.
Two years later, in 1892, he gave up his career as a lawyer. He attended art classes at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris and dabbled in different styles. He then was influenced by the impressionist and post-impressionist painters Pisarro, Cezanne, van Gogh, Gauguin and Paul Signac and by the paintings of W. Turner.
Around the year 1905 he finally found his own style characterized by daring, bright colors executed in a broad brush stroke.
For copyright reasons we cannot show you any art works by Henri Matisse on this web site. Instead we decorated this page with original woodblock prints by contemporary Japanese artist Ryusei Okamoto.
Methods & Ideas.
In 1913 the French artist Henri Matisse embarked on a period of restless experimentation, eschewing the rich colours and sinuous lines of his earlier works for a more abstract, geometric approach to painting, dominated by blacks and greys. He reworked his paintings again and again, scraping at the paint as if it were plaster and carving it like wax.
Examples of Work.
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