HENRI MATISSE (1869-1954)
Matisse was born in Le Cateau-Cambrésis, in the Nord department in Northern France on New Year’s Eve in 1869, the oldest son of a wealthy grain merchant. He first started to paint in 1889, after his mother brought him art supplies during a period of convalescence following an attack of appendicitis. He discovered “a kind of paradise” as he later described it, and led him to his storied career as an artist. His mastery of the expressive language of color and drawing, displayed in a body of work spanning over a half-century, won him recognition as a leading figure in modern art.
