Henri Matisse Henri Matisse was a French artist, known for his use of colour and his fluid, brilliant and original draftsmanship. As a draftsman, printmaker, and sculptor, but principally as a painter, Matisse is one of the best-known artists of the 20th more..more..

“ Henri Matisse:I have been no more than a medium, as it were. #Jealousy#Jealousy

“ Henri Matisse:We must see all life as if we were children. #Children #Children

“ Henri Matisse:The artist has but one idea. He is born with it and spends a lifetime developing it and making it breathe. I basically work without theory. I am aware only of the forces I use, and I move along the course of the picture's creation, pushed by an idea that I come to know only gradually as it develops. #Arts and Artists#Arts and Artists

“ Henri Matisse:I had this dance in me for a long time,and I had to put it into La joie de vivre. It was like a rhythm within me that carried me along. #Joy#Joy

“ Henri Matisse:What I am after, above all, is expression. #Poetry and Poets#Poetry and Poets

“ Henri Matisse:Without passion there is no art. #Arts and Artists#Arts and Artists

“ Henri Matisse:I have always tried to hide my efforts and wished my works to have the light joyousness of springtime which never lets anyone suspect the labors it has cost me... #God#God

“ Henri Matisse:Do I believe in God? Yes, when I am working. When I am submissive and modest, I feel myself to be greatly helped by someone who causes me to do things that exceed my capabilities. However, I cannot acknowledge him because it is as if I were to find myself before a conjuror whose sleight of hand eludes me. #Jargon#Jargon

“ Henri Matisse:Suppose I want to paint a woman's body: first of all I imbue it with grace and charm, but I know that I must give something more. I will condense the meaning of this body by seeking its essential lines. The charm will be less apparent at first glance, but it must eventually emerge from the new image which will have a broader meaning, one more fully human. #Science and Scientists #Science and Scientists

“ Henri Matisse:Impressionism is the newspaper of the soul. #America#America

“ Henri Matisse:A picture must possess a real power to generate light... for a long time now I've been conscious of expressing myself through light or rather in light. #Power#Power

“ Henri Matisse:My choice of colours does not rest on any scientific theory:it is based on observation,on sensitivity,on felt experience. #Science and Scientists#Science and Scientists

“ Henri Matisse: There is nothing more difficult for a truly creative painter than to paint a rose, because before he can do so he has first to forget all the roses that were ever painted. #Arts and Artists #Arts and Artists

“ Henri Matisse:For me all is in the conception. I must therefore have a clear vision of the whole from the beginning. #Vision#Vision

“ Henri Matisse:The artist begins with a vision — a creative operation requiring effort. Creativity takes courage. #Courage#Courage

“ Henri Matisse:Slowly I discovered the secret of my art. It consists of a meditation on nature, on the expression of a dream which is always inspired by reality. With more involvement and regularity, I learned to push each study in a certain direction. Little by little the notion that painting is a means of expression asserted itself, and that one can express the same thing in several ways. Exactitude is not truth, Delacroix liked to say. #Arts and Artists#Arts and Artists

“ Henri Matisse:At each stage I reach a balance, a conclusion. At the next sitting, if I find that there is a weakness in the whole, I make my way back into the picture by means of the weakness — I re-enter through the breach — and I reconceive the whole. Thus everything becomes fluid again. #Imagination#Imagination

“ Henri Matisse:As I create these colored cutouts, it seems to me that I advance joyfully to meet whatever awaits. I do not believe I have ever experienced such peace and harmony as in making these cutout papers. #Music#Music

“ Henri Matisse:The vertical is in my spirit. It helps me to define precisely the direction of lines, and in quick sketches I never indicate a curve, that of a branch in landscape for example, without being aware of its relationship to the vertical. My curves are not mad. #Life and Living#Life and Living

“ Henri Matisse:A work of art must carry within itself its complete significance and impose that upon the beholder before he recognises the subject matter. #Arts and Artists#Arts and Artists

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