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
stories ifs written
If my story were ever to be written truthfully from start to finish, it would amaze everyone.
color rainbow choices
The use of expressive colors is felt to be one of the basic elements of the modern mentality, an historical necessity, beyond choice.
beauty feelings body
The living model, the naked body of a woman, is the privileged seat of feeling, but also of questioning... The model must mark you, awaken in you an emotion which you seek in turn to express.
work-out different painting
I do not repudiate any of my paintings but there isn't one of them that I would not redo differently, if I had it to redo. My destination is always the same but I work out a different route to get there.
color trying complementary-colors
I simply try to put down colors which render my sensation
work creativity conscious
One gets into a state of creativity by conscious work.
mediums has-beens
I have been no more than a medium, as it were.
tree intuition branches
Instinct must be thwarted just as one prunes the branches of a tree so that it will grow better.
writing would-be use
The sign is determined at the moment I use it and for the object of which it must form a part. For this reason I cannot determine in advance signs which never change, and which would be like writing: that would paralyze the freedom of my invention.
intuition certain permit
The things that are acquired consciously permit us to express ourselves unconsciously with a certain richness.
artist self discovery
An artist is an explorer. He has to begin by self-discovery and by observation of his own procedure. After that he must not feel under any constraint.
expression feelings imitation
The residuum of another's expression can never be related to one's own feeling.
running what-matters hands
What matters most to me? To work with my model until I have it enough in me to be able to improvise, to let my hand run free...
instinct lost behinds
One must, of course, have one's entire experience behind one and not have lost the freshness of instinct.