Henri Matisse

Matisse married Amélie Noellie Parayre in 1898. They had two sons, Jean and Pierre and also raised Marguerite, his daughter with the model Caroline Joblau. Marguerite served as a model for him in coming years.

In1935, he met Lydia Delectorskaya, who had introduced herself in the Matisse household for temporary work, Matisse and his wife were separated four years later when Amélie tried to dismiss the efficient Lydia.

He was diagnosed with cancer and was cared by Lydia but died of a heart attack. He is interred in the cemetery of the Monastère Notre Dame de Cimiez, near Nice.

Matisse was born on 31st December 1869, in Le Cateau-Cambrésis, Nord, France, the oldest son of, Émile Hippolyte Matisse, a grain merchant and Anna Heloise Gerard. He grew up in Bohain-en-Vermandois, Picardie, France.

His father arranged for his son to obtain a clerk’s position at a law office. He considered law as tedious, but passed the bar in 1888 with distinction.

He was bed-ridden for two years following an attack of appendicitis. His mother bought him art supplies during the period of convalescence and advised her son to listen to his emotions while painting.

In 1891, he attended the Académie Julian in Paris and studied with the arch-academician William-Adolphe Bouguereau and the Symbolist Gustave Moreaumasters. He also studied contemporary art, especially that of the impressionists.

In1896, he exhibited 5 paintings in the salon of the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts of which two were bought by the state. His work showed the influence of the post-Impressionists, Cézanne, Gauguin, and Gogh.

In 1900, he earned some money painting a frieze for the World Fair at the Grand Palais in Paris. He traveled widely and, as a cultured tourist developed his art.

He made his first sculpture an imitation of French sculptor Antoine-Louis Barye and in 1903, completed ‘The Slave of a standing male nude’ in clay.

His first solo exhibition at Ambroise Vollard's gallery in 1904 was not that successful. He became fond of bright and expressive colors after painting in St. Tropez with the neo-Impressionists Signac and Henri-Edmond Cross.

He became the leader of the Fauves, along with friend and competitor, André Derain. Other members were Georges Braque, Raoul Dufy and Maurice de Vlaminck.

In 1904, Matisse painted Luxe, Calme et Volupté in the neo-Impressionist style, using the Divisionist technique advocated by Impressionist painter, Paul Signac. The painting's title comes from the poem L'Invitation au voyage.

He created one of his major works La Danse especially for the Russian art collector Sergei Shchukin between 1909 and 1910. Dance is commonly recognized as "a key point of (Matisse's) career.