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)
What I dream of is an art of balance, of purity and serenity devoid of troubling or depressing subject matter—a soothing, calming influence on the mind, something like a good armchair which provides relaxation from physical fatigue.
A work of art must carry in itself its complete significance and impose it upon the beholder even before he can identify the subject-matter.
I want to reach that state of condensation of sensations which constitutes a picture.
My choice of colors is not based on scientific theory; it is based on observation, on feeling, on the very nature of each experience.
There is no break between my former pictures and my present ones. They have evolved in the same direction, towards greater simplification and abstraction.
I do not paint things, I paint the difference between things.
The artist must possess a sensitivity to nature, a sensitivity which is not a matter of intellect but of instinct.
I have always tried to hide my efforts and wished my works to have the lightness and joyousness of a springtime which never lets anyone suspect the labors it has cost.
I don't paint women, I paint pictures.
One must always search for the desire of the line, where it wishes to enter or where it wishes to die.
My purpose is to render my emotion. This emotion is not in the least an imitation of nature.
There are two ways of looking at things: one is to see them as they are, and the other is to see them as they are not.
The artist must look at everything with the eyes of a child.
Color helps to express light, not the physical phenomenon, but the only light that really exists, that in the artist's brain.
The essential thing is to organize the colors so that they express the emotion of the artist as completely as possible.
I don't know whether I believe in God, but I believe in art.
The object of painting is to arrange colors in such a way that they will express the emotion of the artist.
I have always considered drawing not as an exercise of skill but as a means of expressing intimate feelings and moods.
My line is not a drawing, it is a feeling.
There is no such thing as a bad color. There are only bad combinations.
Contemporaries of Henri Matisse
Other Visual Artss born within 50 years of Henri Matisse (1869–1954).