Art History: Henri Matisse

Henri Matisse Is Born

Dec 31, 1869

Henri Matisse was born in Le Cateau in Northern France.

Art History: Henri Matisse

Period: Dec 31, 1869 to Nov 3, 1954

Henri's Career Before Being an Artist

Jul 1, 1887

Green Stripe, 1905
Henri Matisse From 1887-18889 Henri Matisse studied for a law degree, as he originally wanted to become a lawyer. Then in 1888 he passed the bar and took a job as a law clerk. Exact Date Not Known

Henri Starts to Paint

Jul 1, 1890

Small Odalisque In Purple Robe, 1937
Henri Matisse It wasn't until 21 years when Henri started to paint while recovering from an illness. From there he discovered his love of art. Exact Date Not Known

Henri Matisse's Education

Jul 1, 1891

Calla Lilies, Irises and Mimosas, 1905
Henri Matisse In 1891 Henri attended both Académie Julian, an art school in Paris, France and École nationale supérieure des arts décoratifs, a public university of art and design in Paris. Exact Date Not Known

Artistic Styles: Impressionism

Jul 1, 1897

Les pivoines, 1907
Henri Matisse In 1897, Henri Matisse met the painter John Peter Russell who introduced him to impressionism and Van Gogh's work. From then on Henri Matisse was inspired, yet again. Exact Date Not Known

Henri Is Married

Jul 1, 1898

Henri Matisse married Amélie Parayre who he soon had three children with, Pierre, Marguerite, and Jean. Exact Date Not Known

Salon des Indépendants

Jul 1, 1901

Goldfish, 1911
Henri Matisse As Henri became more experinced as a painter he started to submit his art to Salon des Indépendants, an art exibition in Paris. Exact Date Not Known

Artistic Styles: Neo-Impressionism

Jul 1, 1904

Luxe, Calme et Volupté, 1904
Henri Matisse After Henri laid eyes on Georges Seurat's "perfected" painting featuring the technique of painting small color dots (points) in complementary colors, he was inspierd. As a result, Henri produced his Neo-Impressionist masterpiece Luxe, calme et volupté in 1904-1905. Exact Date Not Known

First One-Man Exibition

Jul 1, 1904

Red Room (Harmony in Red), 1908
Henri Matisse In 1904, Henri Matisse had his first one-man exibition at the gallery of dealer Ambroise Vollard. Exact Date Not Known

Salon d'Automne

Jul 1, 1905

Open Window, 1905
Henri Matisse Henri Matisse exhibited both paintings "Open Window" and "Woman with a Hat" in the 1905 Salon d'Automne exibition in Paris. Exact Date Not Known

Artistic Styles: Fauvism

Jul 1, 1905

Woman with a Hat, 1905
Henri Matisse After Henri's paintings such as, "Woman with a Hat" were exhibited at the 1905 Salon d'Automne in Paris, people were amazed by his use of bright colours and "energenic brushwork". Because of this, a contemporary artist named this style of painting as "Fauvism" and it took the artstic world by storm. Exact Date Not Known Exact Date Not Known

Henri Matisse's Art School

Jul 1, 1908

The Snail, 1953
Henri Matisse For a short period of time, (1908-1911) Henri ran a small art school called Academie Matisse in Paris. Exact Date Not Known

Artistic Styles: Cubism

Jul 1, 1916

Vase of Sunflowers,1898
Henri Matisse Henri Matisse went through different periods when he was trying out different artistic styles, in 1916 Henri explored the structures and geometry of Cubism. Though he didn't produce any cubism paintings he still used some techniques from this style of painting. Exact Date Not Known

Artistic Styles: Cutouts

Jul 1, 1940

Icaus, 1946
Henri Matisse In 1940, while Henri was preparing to paint a mural he began to use a new technique in his artwork. By using cutout shapes of previously colored paper he started the new style of Cutouts. Exact Date Not Known

Decorating the Chapel of the Rosary

Jul 1, 1948

From 1948-1951 Henri finished one of his last projects he had before he passed away. He created an entire program of decorations for the Chapel of the Rosary in Vence, a town near Nice. Henri designed stained-glass windows, murals, furnishings, and even "sacred" robes for the church's priests. Exact Date Not Known

Henri Matisse Died

Nov 3, 1954

Henri Matisse died of a heart attack on November 3, 1954 at 84 years old in Nice, France.