Odalisque (1923)

Henri Matisse prints bring some of the boldest colour in modern art into your home. Matisse led the Fauves, the painters who shocked Paris in 1905 with reds, greens and blues that had nothing to do with nature and everything to do with feeling. Over five decades he moved from vivid portraits to sunlit interiors and, finally, to cheerful paper cut-outs. This collection gathers fine art prints of his paintings and cut-outs.

About Henri Matisse

Henri Émile Benoît Matisse was born on 31 December 1869 in Le Cateau-Cambrésis, in northern France, and grew up nearby in Bohain-en-Vermandois. He trained in Paris at the Académie Julian and the École des Beaux-Arts, where he studied in the studio of the Symbolist painter Gustave Moreau.

In 1904 he painted alongside Paul Signac in St. Tropez, and in the summer of 1905 he worked with André Derain in the fishing port of Collioure. That autumn their pictures hung together at the Salon d'Automne in Paris. The critic Louis Vauxcelles called the painters "fauves", wild beasts, and the name stuck. Matisse was seen as the group's leader. Gertrude Stein bought his Woman with a Hat, and the Russian collector Sergei Shchukin later commissioned the large panel Dance for his Moscow mansion.

Matisse met Pablo Picasso around 1906, and the two remained friends and rivals for the rest of their lives. From the late 1910s he spent much of his time on the French Riviera, living in Cimiez, above Nice, and later in Vence.

After surgery in 1941 left him largely confined to bed, he turned to "painting with scissors": cutting shapes from sheets of paper painted with gouache. His book Jazz (1947) and the Chapelle du Rosaire in Vence, finished in 1951, came out of this late period. He died in Nice on 3 November 1954.

Style and Subjects

Colour comes first: a face might be green, a whole room red, a sky an even deep blue. He flattened space, so that a tablecloth pattern can run straight up the wall behind it, and he used fluid, confident lines to draw figures with very few strokes.

His favourite subjects were interiors with open windows, women reading or resting, still lifes, dancers and Mediterranean light. In the later cut-outs the shapes become simpler still, leaves, swirls, stars and figures in pure blue, orange and green set against white.

Famous Works

• Luxe, Calme et Volupté (1904), Musée d'Orsay, Paris. A sunny beach scene built from small dabs of pure colour, painted after his summer with Signac.
• Woman with a Hat (1905), San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. A portrait of his wife Amélie in clashing colours that drew crowds and scorn at the 1905 Salon d'Automne.
• Open Window, Collioure (1905), National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. Boats and sea seen through a window, framed by walls of pink, green and violet.
• Le bonheur de vivre (1905–06), Barnes Foundation. A dreamlike landscape of figures relaxing, dancing and making music.
• The Dessert: Harmony in Red (1908), Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg. A woman sets a table in a room that is almost entirely red, crossed by blue swirling patterns.
• Dance (1910), Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg. Five red figures dance in a ring on a green hill under a deep blue sky.
• The Red Studio (1911), Museum of Modern Art, New York. Matisse's own studio and artworks floating in a field of rich red.
• The Snail (1953), Tate, London. A large spiral of cut and painted paper in bright, warm colours, made when he was largely bedridden.

Decorating with Matisse Prints

Matisse's strong, flat colour makes his work a natural centrepiece for living rooms and dining rooms. Harmony in Red or The Red Studio suit warm, inviting spaces and look good above a sideboard or dining table, while Dance has the energy for a large wall in an open-plan room.

The late cut-outs, with their clean shapes on white, sit comfortably in modern and minimal interiors, kitchens, home offices and children's rooms. For a calmer bedroom or reading nook, his window views from Collioure and the Riviera bring in sea, sky and Mediterranean light.

FAQ

What art movement was Henri Matisse part of?

Matisse was the leading figure of Fauvism, the movement named after the "wild beasts" label a critic gave to him and his friends at the 1905 Salon d'Automne. His career also spans Post-Impressionism and wider modernism.

What is Henri Matisse's most famous painting?

Dance (1910) and Woman with a Hat (1905) are among his best known. Dance shows five red figures in a ring on a green hill.

Where can I see original Matisse paintings?

Major works hang at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, the Musée d'Orsay in Paris, the National Gallery of Art in Washington and Tate in London. France also has two museums devoted to him: the Musée Matisse in Nice and the Musée Matisse in his birthplace, Le Cateau-Cambrésis.

How can you recognize a Matisse?

Look for bold, unnatural colour, flat patterned spaces and simple flowing outlines.

What are Matisse's cut-outs?

In his last years, after surgery left him largely in bed, Matisse cut shapes from paper painted with gouache, which assistants then pinned and pasted as he directed. Works like The Snail and the book Jazz come from this period.

Related Artists

• André Derain: co-founder of Fauvism who painted with Matisse in Collioure in 1905
• Pablo Picasso: his lifelong friend and rival from around 1906
• Paul Signac: painted with Matisse in St. Tropez in 1904
• Gustave Moreau: his teacher at the École des Beaux-Arts
• Paul Cézanne: an important early influence on Matisse