Henri Matisse
Henri Matisse
Henri-Émile-Benoît Matissewas a French artist, known for both his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a draughtsman, printmaker, and sculptor, but is known primarily as a painter...
NationalityFrench
ProfessionPainter
Date of Birth31 December 1869
CountryFrance
drawing ideas precision
To draw is to make an idea precise. Drawing is the precision of thought.
passion expression details
Expression is not a matter of passion mirrored on the human face or revealed by a violent gesture. When I paint a picture, its every detail is expressive.
color tone timbre
A certain color tones you up. It's the concentration of timbres.
expression drawing paper
Composition, the aim of which is expression, alters itself according to the surface to be covered. If I take a sheet of paper of given dimensions, I will jot down a drawing which will have a necessary relation to its format.
emotional despair imbalance
There's nothing clinically wrong with me, only an emotional imbalance - I pass too quickly from the wildest enthusiasm to the blackest despair.
unique mind events
A new painting is a unique event, a birth, which enriches the universe as it is grasped by the human mind, by bringing a new form into it.
character order risk
A rapid rendering of a landscape represents only one moment of its existence. I prefer, by insisting upon its essential character, to risk losing charm in order to gain greater stability.
queens black-and-white color
I've been forty years discovering that the queen of all colors is black.
color irrelevant
Seek for the boldest color possible, content is irrelevant.
color expression function
The main function of color should be to serve expression.
color choices feelings
My choice of colors does not rest on any scientific theory, it is based on observation, on feeling, on the experience of my sensibility.
mean drawing color
Color, even more than drawing, is a means of liberation.
light color feels
It is with color that you render light, though you must also feel this light, have it within yourself.
influence sincerity cowardice
For my part I have never avoided the influence of others. I would have considered it cowardice and a lack of sincerity toward myself.