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
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
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
ask course granted indulgence life notes painters patience recount writings
All that I really have to recount are observations and notes made during the course of my life as a painter. I ask those who will have the patience to read these notes the indulgence usually granted to the writings of painters
cezanne painting masters
Cezanne, you see, is a sort of God of painting.
ruins painting
Never ruin a good painting with the truth.
art understanding painting
What's so astonishing about not understanding? There are so many things in art, beginning with art itself, that one doesn't understand. A painter doesn't see everything that he has put in his painting.
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.
quiet paint starting
Starting to paint, I felt gloriously free, quiet, and alone.
feelings way painting
I am unable to make any distinction between the feeling I get from life and the way I translate that feeling into painting.
cute art paint
It has bothered me all my life that I do not paint like everybody else.
art differences painting
I don't paint things. I only paint the difference between things.
essence painting form
There is no interruption between my older paintings and my cutouts. Just that with an increasing sense of the absolute, and more abstraction, I have achieved a form that is simplified to its essence.
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.