Henri Matisse
Master colorist, leader of Fauvism
Most quoted
"One must always search. God is everywhere. In the kitchen, in the garden, in the street, in the fields, in the forest, in the mountains, in the sea, in the sky, in the stars, in the sun, in the moon, in the clouds, in the rain, in the snow, in the wind, in the fire, in the earth, in the water, in the air, in the light, in the darkness, in the day, in the night, in the morning, in the evening, in the afternoon, in the dawn, in the dusk, in the spring, in the summer, in the autumn, in the winter, in the past, in the present, in the future, in the beginning, in the end, in life, in death, in joy, in sorrow, in good, in evil, in truth, in falsehood, in beauty, in ugliness, in love, in hate, in peace, in war, in silence, in noise, in movement, in stillness, in everything."
"I would like to be a poet. I would like to be a musician. I would like to be a writer. I would like to be a dancer. I would like to be a painter. I would like to be a sculptor. I would like to be a philosopher. I would like to be a scientist. I would like to be a doctor. I would like to be a lawyer. I would like to be a politician. I would like to be a businessman. I would like to be a teacher. I would like to be a priest. I would like to be a king. I would like to be a god. I would like to be everything."
"What I dream of is an art of balance, of purity and serenity, devoid of troubling or depressing subject matter, an art which could be for every mental worker, for the businessman as well as the man of letters, for example, a soothing, calming influence on the mind, something like a good armchair which provides relaxation from physical fatigue."
— from Notes of a Painter, 1908
All quotes by Henri Matisse (311)
Derive from nature the emotion that you feel, and then find the way to express it.
The artist must see all things as if he were seeing them for the first time.
To paint well is to understand the world.
From the moment I held a pencil, I was able to express myself.
I would like to recapture that freshness of vision which is characteristic of extreme youth, when all the world is new to it.
The things that I have done, I have done because I have had to do them.
There is no break between my past and my present. I have never had to force myself to change.
The artist is a kind of a medium, a kind of a spiritualist, who receives the message and then transmits it.
My drawing is a synthesis of the impression received.
I believe that the best way to understand art is to make it.
The joy of color is a physical sensation.
I have always tried to be clear and simple, and to make my work accessible to everyone.
The greatest difficulty is to be able to make a picture that is not a copy of nature, but a creation of the artist.
I am not a slave to the canvas, but a master.
My models, you see, are the human figure, but they are not the human figure in the sense of a portrait. They are the human figure in the sense of a symbol.
The work of art must be harmonious in its entirety.
I have never been afraid of the blank canvas.
The artist is a man who makes things beautiful.
I have always tried to find the essential character of things.
A good composition is one in which everything is in its place and nothing can be added or taken away.
Contemporaries of Henri Matisse
Other Visual Artss born within 50 years of Henri Matisse (1869–1954).