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
positive beautiful art
There are always flowers for those who want to see them.
funny-inspirational willpower stubbornness
When you're out of willpower you call on stubbornness, that's the trick.
drawing ideas lines
Drawing is putting a line around an idea.
accomplished without-love
Nothing can be accomplished without love.
figures theme models
My models, my human figures, are never like extras in an interior. They are the main theme of my work. I depend absolutely on my model...
fetch saws embarrassed
I was very embarrassed when my canvases began to fetch high prices. I saw myself condemned to a future of nothing but Masterpieces.
drawing ideas precision
To draw is to make an idea precise. Drawing is the precision of thought.
expression feelings imitation
The residuum of another's expression can never be related to one's own feeling.
peculiar harmony invention
The sign for which I forge an image has no value if it doesn't harmonize with other signs, which I must determine in the course of my invention and which are completely peculiar to it.
quiet paint starting
Starting to paint, I felt gloriously free, quiet, and alone.
drawing tree copying
I shan't get free of my emotion by copying the tree faithfully, or by drawing its leaves one by one in the common language, but only after identifying myself with it.
faces firsts execution
From the first shock of the contemplation of a face depends the principal sensation which guides me throughout the entire execution of a portrait.
ruins painting
Never ruin a good painting with the truth.
talent wonderful
There are wonderful things in real jazz, the talent for improvisation, the liveliness, the being at one with the audience.