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)
An artist must never be a prisoner of himself, prisoner of style, prisoner of reputation, prisoner of success.
From the moment I held the box of colors in my hands, I knew this was my life. I threw myself into it like a beast that plunges towards the thing it loves.
Work cures everything.
I have been no more than a medium, as it were.
One must always search for the desire of the line, where it wishes to enter or where to die away.
I don't know whether I believe in God or not. I think, really, I'm some sort of Buddhist. But the essential thing is to put oneself in a frame of mind which is close to that of prayer.
To look at something as though we had never seen it before requires great courage.
The artist begins with a vision - a creative operation requiring an effort. Creativity takes courage.
Time extracts various values from a painter's work. When these values are exhausted the pictures are forgotten, and the more a picture has to give, the greater it is.
A picture must possess a real power to generate light and for a long time now I've been conscious of expressing myself through light or rather in light.
I did my pictures as a plant produces flowers, without thinking of it.
The cut-out is what I have now found the simplest and most direct way to express myself.
I depend entirely on my model, whom I observe at liberty, and then I decide on the pose which best suits her nature.
For me, expression does not reside in passions glowing in a human face or manifested by violent movement. The entire arrangement of my picture is expressive.
You study, you learn, but you guard the original naiveté. It has to be within you, as desire for drink is within the drunkard or love is within the lover.
I wouldn't mind turning into a vermilion goldfish.
The importance of an artist is to be measured by the number of new signs he has introduced into the language of art.
In art, truth and reality begin when you no longer understand what you are doing or what you know, and when there remains in you an energy that is all the stronger for being constrained, controlled and compressed.
I don't paint women; I paint pictures.
A musician once said: In art, truth and reality begin when one no longer understands anything one does or knows, and when there remains an energy that is all the stronger for being constrained, controlled, and compressed.
Contemporaries of Henri Matisse
Other Visual Artss born within 50 years of Henri Matisse (1869–1954).