Henri Matisse Essay Example

On December 31, 1869, in the country of France, there was born a child that would later become one of the most influential and famous artists of the 20th century. His name was Henri Matisse.
In 1887, Matisse went to Paris to study law and after gaining his certification, became a court administrator. However, in 1889 he began to discover “a kind of paradise” as he first began to paint with art supplies that his mother gave him during his recovery from suffering an appendicitis attack. It was during this time that Matisse decided that he wanted to be an artist.
Matisse was an artist that was mostly known for his brilliant use of color. In fact, color was the most crucial element of his paintings. He was also a founder of the Fauvist art movement, which was recognized by simplified lines, deep bright colors and expressive spontaneity that gave the paintings real vibrant emotion. He broke his paintings down in line, color, and composition, creating a unique style that made use of flat color, brilliant hues, and graceful fluid lines.
Fauvism placed emphasis on large, simplified forms and bright, "unnatural" color (the 'actual' color of objects). This approach concentrated on color relationships and how colors affected one another visually. These elements combined to create the 'reality' of the image, rather than trying to illustrate the objective world. Matisse began with still life and interiors in which he illustrated the 'flattening' of forms and of the canvas surface. As he matured as an artist, the forms became more and more simplified, and the images became less concerned with 'correct' drawing and more of what he felt was the important parts of the forms. Eventually, his images appear to have been only hastily drawn and painted - just the essential parts were extracted from the image. There was no use of linear perspective to indicate depth in his new painting style. However, Matisse did use his curvilinear forms and bold decorative patterns to emphasize