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
simplicity essentials form
With greater completeness and abstraction, I have attained a form filtered to its essentials.
spring artist essentials
The essential thing is to spring forth, to express the bolt of lightning one senses upon contact with a thing. The function of the artist is not to translate an observation but to express the shock of the object on his nature; the shock, with the original reaction.
prayer mind essentials
The essential thing is to work in a state of mind that approaches prayer.
attacks panic reading
I've been reading about the panic attacks Matisse had when he was painting.
artist cliches easily flower greatest hand modesty order shatter summon
The artist must summon all his energy, his sincerity, and the greatest modesty in order to shatter the old cliches that come so easily to hand while working, which can suffocate the little flower that does not come, ever, the way one expects.
best color decided favorable intervals introduce prints reason separate size suited
I'd like to introduce my color prints under the most favorable of conditions. For this reason I must separate them by intervals of a different character. I decided that handwriting was best suited for this purpose. The exceptional size of the writing
sculpture work
I did my sculpture as a painter. I did not work as a sculptor.
allow directly draw drawing filling instead outline paper starting
The paper cutouts allow me to draw with color. For me, it is a simplification. Instead of drawing an outline and then filling in with color-with one modifying the other-I draw directly in color...It is not a starting point, it is a completion.
asked felt leaves mess money remain saw value
When I saw what a mess everything was in I asked for my money back on the ticket. I would have felt I was deserting. If everyone of any value leaves France, what will remain of France?
artist backs copied miss picture turning work
Those who work in a preconceived style, deliberately turning their backs on nature, miss the truth. An artist must recognize, when he is reasoning, that his picture is an artifice; but when he is painting, he should feel that he has copied nature. An
art cannot define definition explain great mystery painting substitute valid whenever
The only valid thing in art is the one thing that cannot be explained, to explain away the mystery of a great painting would do irreplaceable harm, for whenever you explain or define something you substitute the explanation or the definition for the
talent wonderful
There are wonderful things in real jazz, the talent for improvisation, the liveliness, the being at one with the audience.
both directly exclusion imagination methods nature neither painters preferred purely turn work
A distinction is made between painters who work directly from nature and those who work purely from imagination. Personally, I think neither of these methods must be preferred to the exclusion of the other. Both may be used in turn by the same indivi
design means personal touch
It is only after years of preparation that the young artist should touch color - not color used descriptively, that is, but as a means of personal expression.