Biographie
1869–1954
Born in 1869 in Cateau-Cambrésis in Northern France, Henri Matisse ranks among the major figures of Modern Art. Chief instigator of Fauvism, his work developed over time towards increasing simplification of form.
Matisse arrived in Paris during the 1890s and found himself at the centre of the fertile Post-Impressionist researches. Matisse started his training at the ‘École des Arts Décoratifs’. His fellow pupil Albert Marquet became his close life-long friend. Matisse continued his education at the ‘École des Beaux Arts’ in the studio of Gustave Moreau; this major figure of Symbolism encouraged his students to find their individual way of painting.
Matisse met Camille Pissarro who temporarily engaged him into Impressionism. In 1899 Matisse discovered the theories of Neo-Impressionism in Paul Signac’s essay D’Eugène Delacroix au Néo-Impressionnisme.
At the turn of the new century, Matisse associated with fellow painters André Derain and Jean Puy, who introduced him to Maurice de Vlaminck. In line with many young painters, Matisse had a veritable admiration for Paul Cézanne, whose canvas entitled ‘Les Trois Baigneuses’ he acquired in 1900. Matisse exhibited in 1901 at the ‘Salon des Indépendants’, and at the inaugural edition of the ‘Salon d’Automne’ in 1903. His break-through as an innovator came at the ‘Salon des Indépendants’ of 1905. Here Matisse revealed his originality and talent, showing alongside Albert Marquet, Maurice de Vlaminck, André Derain, Henri Manguin and Charles Camoin, in the infamous Room VII. Because of their use simplified forms rendered in a flat and spontaneous fashion with pure and bold colour, they were dubbed the Wild Beasts or’ Fauves’ by the art critic Louis Vauxcelles. Thus, Art History regards this event as the official date of the inception of Fauvism.
As the leader of the movement, Matisse stated that he wanted ‘to shake up the tyranny of Divisionism’– the style practiced by his friend Paul Signac who acquired Matisse’s ‘Luxe, Calme et Volupté’. Matisse’s early success materialised in a contract with the Josse et Gaston Bernheim gallery. First-hour collectors of his work included Gertrude Stein, who acquired ‘La Femme au chapeau’ (now in the collection of the San Francisco Museum of Art) at the infamous ‘Salon des Indépendants’ of 1905. It is also Gertrude Stein who introduced Matisse to the young Pablo Picasso. Both artists became known as major figures of Modern Art during their lifetimes.
During 1909–1917, Matisse lived and worked in the South-Western Parisian suburb of Issy-les-Moulineaux. In 1917 Matisse relocated to Cimiez near Nice on the French Riviera. His so-called ‘niçoise’ period was met with enormous success. In 1931, the Museum of Modern Art hosted a retrospective and the American collector Albert C. Barnes commissioned ‘The Dance II’, a large mural for the Barnes Foundation.
Matisse’s work reflected his research into increasing stylisation of form and intensity of colour, expressed in lithographs, etchings, drawings, paintings and sculptures.
In 1941 Matisse’s illness left him bed-and chairbound, facing the incapacity to paint. Thus, he revisited his 1930s technique of ‘gouaches découpées’. From his bed, Matisse cut his paper shapes with scissors, which his assistants then glued in the indicated place.
As such during the 1940s, Matisse created the famous series Jazz, as well as two monumental canvasses entitled ‘Polynésie, le Ciel’ and ‘Polynésie, la Mer’ (1946). At the time Matisse was a living legend. In 1945, the ‘Salon d’Automne’ honoured Matisse with a large retrospective exhibition, and in 1950, he represented France at the Venice Biennale. In 1952, his birth city of Cateau-Cambrésis inaugurated the Matisse Museum. Matisse’s last work, made in 1952 in the studio of his beloved apartment of the Régina Hotel, was aptly entitled ‘La Tristesse du Roi’. Matisse passed away in 1954.