Henri Matisse

Introduction & Top Questions
Formative years
Revolutionary years
Riviera years

References & Edit History Quick Facts & Related Topics

Images & Videos

Henri Matisse stands in a studio wearing a painter's smock, holding a palette beside a wooden ladder, with abstract artwork visible in the background.

Henri Matisse: Portrait of Madame Matisse. The Green Line

Black-and-white photo of the 1913 Armory Show in New York City, featuring sculptures on pedestals and paintings displayed on walls inside a large exhibition hall.

Learn how curators and scientists worked together to colorize a black-and-white photograph of Henri Matisse's “Bathers by a River” taken in 1913

Henri Matisse: Decorative Figure on an Ornamental Background

At a Glance

Henri Matisse summary

Quizzes

Color pastels, colored chalk, colorful chalk. Hompepage blog 2009, arts and entertainment, history and society

Ultimate Art Quiz

Close-up of a palette held by a man. Mixing paint, painting, color mixing.

Artists, Painters, & Architects

Tate Modern extension Switch House, London, England. (Tavatnik, museums). Photo dated 2017.

Can You Match These Lesser-Known Paintings to Their Artists?

"The Birth of Venus," tempera on canvas by Sandro Botticelli, c. 1485; in the Uffizi, Florence.

Who Painted the Most Expensive Paintings in the World?

Related Questions

How did African sculpture and a trip to Tahiti influence Henri Matisse’s Blue Nudes?
How did Gustave Moreau influence Henri Matisse’s artistic development?
How did Henri Matisse and André Derain develop Fauvism in Collioure?
How did Henri Matisse begin painting while recovering from appendicitis?
How did Henri Matisse complete large artworks while working from his studio bed?
How did Henri Matisse develop his sculpture The Back over time?
How did Henri Matisse illustrate Stéphane Mallarmé’s Poésies?
How did Henri Matisse use complementary colors in his Fauvist paintings?
How did Henri Matisse use outlines and shadows in his paintings?
How did Henri Matisse’s mature style differ from Cubism?
How did Mark Rothko respond to Henri Matisse’s The Red Studio?
How did Pointillism influence Henri Matisse’s early experiments with color?
How did Woman with a Hat shock visitors to the 1905 Salon d’Automne?
How did illness change Henri Matisse’s methods of working after 1941?
How does Blue Nude III create the shape of a human figure from cut paper?
How does Dance I create a sense of movement and tension?
How does The Red Studio explore the idea of painting itself?
What financial difficulties did Henri Matisse face early in his career?
What subjects did Henri Matisse most often paint?
When and where did Henri Matisse die?
When did Henri Matisse marry Amélie Parayre?
Where and when was Henri Matisse born?
Where did Henri Matisse teach art between 1907 and 1911?
Which artists were major members of the Fauvist movement with Henri Matisse?
Which artists’ works did Henri Matisse buy from Ambroise Vollard?
Which ballet did Henri Matisse design sets and costumes for in 1920?
Which museum did Gustave Moreau encourage Henri Matisse to study in?
Which parts of the Chapelle du Rosaire did Henri Matisse design?
Which sculptors influenced Henri Matisse’s early three-dimensional work?
Who commissioned Henri Matisse’s Dance paintings?
Who commissioned Henri Matisse’s mural The Dance II for the Barnes Foundation?
Why did Henri Matisse call his paper-cutout technique “drawing with scissors”?
Why did Henri Matisse exhibit at the Salon des Indépendants?
Why did Henri Matisse leave his job as a law clerk?
Why did Henri Matisse often flatten space in his paintings?
Why did Henri Matisse use gouache-painted paper for his late cutouts?
Why did Louis Vauxcelles call Henri Matisse and other painters fauves?
Why does The Red Studio appear flat despite showing an interior room?
Why was Dance criticized when it was first shown in 1910?
What was significant about Henri Matisse’s Jazz?
Why is Edvard Munch so famous?
What was the tragedy of Edvard Munch?
What is Edvard Munch most known for?
What was the impact of Edvard Munch’s work on modern art?
What was Wassily Kandinsky known for?
Why did Wassily Kandinsky leave Germany?
Who influenced Peter Paul Rubens?
How was Raphael educated?
What is Leonardo da Vinci best known for?

Visual Arts Painting Painters

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External Websites

The Met - Henri Matisse (1869Â–1954)
Routledge Ecyclopedia of Modernism - Henri Matisse
National Gallery of Art, Washington - Biography of Henri Matisse
Artnet - Biography of Henri Matisse
Guggenheim - Biography of Henri Matisse
The Art Story - Biography of Henri Matisse
Art in Context - Henri Matisse Â– An Exploration of the Life and Art of Henri Matisse
BBC - MatisseÂ’s cut-outs: A South Seas voyage into history
Maison-Matisse.com - Biography of Henri Matisse
Masterworks Fine Art - Henri Matisse

Britannica Websites

Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students.

Henri Matisse - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up)

Henri Matisse

French artist

Also known as: Henri-Émile-Benoît Matisse

Written by

Roy Donald McMullen

Art historian. Author of Art, Affluence, and Alienation; The World of Marc Chagall; and others.

Roy Donald McMullen

Fact-checked by

Britannica Editors

Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....

Britannica Editors

Last updated

Oct. 30, 2026 •History

Henri Matisse (born December 31, 1869, Le Cateau, Picardy, France—died November 3, 1954, Nice) was an artist often regarded as the most important French painter of the 20th century. He was the leader of the Fauvist movement about 1900, and he pursued the expressiveness of color throughout his career. His subjects were largely domestic or figurative, and a distinct Mediterranean verve presides in the treatment. Matisse, whose parents were in the grain business, was born...

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