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A self-portrait by Henri Matisse. Sourced from Wikimedia

Top 15 Facts about Henri Matisse

Originally published by Lilian on February 2021 and updated by Charity K on August 2022

Henri Émile Benoît Matisse was born in 1869 in France. Matisse is known for his use of bold colours and ability to work out detailed technical plans and drawings.

Henri Matisse was not only a painter but a printmaker and a sculptor too. His name is frequently mentioned alongside Pablo Picasso’s.

The two painters played an important role in revolutionizing developments of visual arts of the 20^th century. 

Matisse helped shape modern art and colourism by trying out different media, styles and movement. He drew inspiration from his fellow artists.

His most famous work, Woman with a Hat, was one of his best of the Fauvism movement. This paved the way for modern painters.

Here are the top 10 facts about Henri Matisse.

1. Matisse worked as a court administrator

He grew up in Bohain-en-Vermandois, Picardie, France. In 1887, he went to Â鶹APP to study law. After passing the bar, Matisse worked as a court administrator in Le Cateau-Cambrésis.

His father on the other hand wanted Matisse to take over the family grain business, but he was not interested.

Matisse loved art so he would attend drawing classes at Académie Julian and the École des Beaux-Arts in the morning before going to court.

At 21, Matisse began painting while recovering from an illness, soon after his love for art was birthed.

2. Sickness brought a turnaround in Henri Matisse’s career

By Henri Matisse – Wikimedia

Matisse took up painting in 1889. During this time, he was recovering from appendicitis.

To keep him busy, his mother bought him art supplies since he had been to art school.

Once he was fully recovered, Matisse had made up his mind about becoming an artist, a choice that did not please his father.

He loved the freedom that art brought him. He moved to Â鶹APP to follow his newfound passion.

3. He had a love-hate relationship with Pablo Picasso

Matisse and Picasso first met in the salon of American novelist and art collector Gertrude Stein.

Stein supported both of their careers. In the beginning, these two talented artists were not fond of each other. They, however, respected each other’s work.

The two were very critical of the other’s work. With time, they saw unique talent each of them had and this made them appreciate each other’s work.

They would often work together on the same titles as well as subjects.  

The main difference between these two artists was that Matisse drew and painted from nature while Picasso drew from imagination.

4. Matisse is known as the father of Fauvism

By Henri Matisse – Wikimedia

Matisse was one of the founders of Fauvism, this was the 20^th century’s first avant-garde art movement.

It was popular between 1905 and 1910. This type of art used colour as an expressive and structural element.

To them, colour did not have the obvious meaning people would pick. For instance, Matisse said that when he used green it did not mean grass nor did blue mean the sky.

Matisse together with his fauvist artists had three exhibitions.  

5. Henri Matisse loved the African heart

Matisse became interested in African art and collected African art objects. In 1911, he visited Morocco and even set up a studio in Tangier.

While in Morocco, he produced 24 paintings and several drawings in the seven months that he spent there.

Through him, Picasso got introduced to African Art. He went on to incorporate it in his work. The most common form of African art concept Picasso used was cubism.

This permanently changed the direction of European modern art.

While in Algeria, Matisse learnt about Primitivism. He further studied Moorish art in Spain.  

6. He developed a unique way of painting with scissors

By Henri Matisse – Wikimedia

In 1941, Matisse was diagnosed with duodenal cancer. Although the surgery was successful, he developed serious complications.

Matisse was bedridden for three months. During this time, he invented a new art form by using paper and scissors.

He would cut painted papers into shapes and arrange them on the walls. He did this until he got the desired result.

7. Matisse was also an accomplished sculptor

By Henri Matisse – Wikimedia

Other than being excellent in painting, Matisse was also a gifted sculptor. More than half of his sculptures were completed between 1900 and 1910.

He often worked in sequences. He would manipulate the form and simplify it over the years.

Matisse worked on three-dimensional mediums that allowed him to twist his figure. He had a total of 82 sculptures and they were made of bronze.  

8. Matisse loved Jazz music

Matisse loved jazz because of its rhythm and deep meaning. He produced colourful cut-paper collages in 1947 which he called Jazz.

According to Matisse, both Jazz music and his art shared several similarities. The music was a testament to his imagination.

He played the violin daily, reflecting the rigorous structure and precise technique which matched his artistic methods.

9. Paul Cezanne’s art inspired Henri Matisse

When he started painting, Matisse was painting still life and landscapes in a traditional style.

One time, he visited an Australian painter, John Peter Russel. Russel introduced him to impressionism, which was produced by the famous Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh.

This was a turning point for Matisse who started incorporating colour in his work.

Another renown artist that greatly influence Matisse was Paul Cezanne, a French post-impressionist painter. He admired the work of Paul Cézanne.

10. Matisse loved his pets

By Henri Matisse – Wikimedia

Matisse loved nature and animals. It was also what inspired his paintings.

He had three cats named Cousi, Minouche, and La Puce. Matisse fed the cats brioche every morning.  

Other than cats, he loved birds and had pet doves. He featured his pets in his paintings.  

As he continued to paint in his old age, he was always in the company of his cats.

11. Henri Matisse’s first presentation in 1904

Photo by Andrew Milligan sumo –  

His first solo exhibition was at Ambroise Vollard’s gallery in 1904, without much success. His fondness for bright and expressive colour became more pronounced after he spent the summer of 1904 painting in St. Tropez with the neo-Impressionists Signac and Henri Edmond Cross.

In that year he painted the most important of his works in the neo-Impressionist style, Luxe, Calme et Volupté. In 1905 he travelled southwards again to work with André Derain at Collioure.

His paintings of this period are characterized by flat shapes and controlled lines, and use pointillism in a less rigorous way than before.

He exhibited along with others members like Georges Braque, Raoul Dufy and Maurice de Vlaminck.

12. He demonstrated his paintings along with others

Photo by Wikimedia Commons –  

In 1905, Matisse and a group of artists now known as “Fauves” exhibited together in a room at the Salon d’Automne. The paintings expressed emotion with wild, often dissonant colours, without regard for the subject’s natural colours.

Matisse showed Open Window and Woman with the Hat at the Salon. Critic Louis Vauxcelles described the work with the phrase “Donatello au milieu des fauves!” Donatello among the wild beasts, referring to a Renaissance-type sculpture that shared the room with them.

His comment was printed on 17 October 1905 in Gil Blas, a daily newspaper, and passed into popular usage.

The exhibition garnered harsh criticism “A pot of paint has been flung in the face of the public”, said the critic Camille Mauclair but also some favourable attention.

When the painting that was singled out for special condemnation, Matisse’s Woman with a Hat, was bought by Gertrude and Leo Stein, the embattled artist’s morale improved considerably.

13. Henri Matisse had an opponent in his professionalism

Photo by Alvin Langdon Coburn –  

Matisse was recognized as a leader of the Fauves, along with André Derain; the two were friendly rivals, each with his own followers. 

The Symbolist painter Gustave Moreau who lived between 1826 – 1898, was the movement’s inspirational teacher; as a professor at the École des Beaux-Arts in Â鶹APP, he pushed his students to think outside of the lines of formality and to follow their visions.

14. Matisse was not affected by the downfall of the Fauvist movement

Photo by Wikimedia Commons –  

The decline of the Fauvist movement after 1906 did nothing to affect the rise of Matisse; many of his finest works were created between 1906 and 1917 when he was an active part of the great gathering of artistic talent in Montparnasse.

However, he did not quite fit in, with his conservative appearance and strict bourgeois work habits. He continued to absorb new influences.

He spent two months in Spain studying Moorish art after viewing a large exhibition of Islam. This strengthened his career in arts as he gained enough boldness in the use of intense, unmodulated colour, as in L’Atelier Rouge (1911).

15. Matisse had an alliance with Sergei Shchukin

Photo by Wikimedia Commons –  

It is amazing that Matisse had a long association with the Russian art collector Sergei Shchukin. In addition to their union, Matisse created one of his major works La Danse specially for Shchukin as part of a two-painting commission, the other painting being Music, 1910. An earlier version of La Danse (1909) is in the collection of The Museum of Modern Art in New York City.