A portrait of Henri Matisse (1933)

Henri Matisse (Le Cateau-Cambrésis, Nord, 31 December 1869 – 3 November 1954) was a French artist known for his use of color and his original ideas.

He is mainly known as a painter, but he was also a draughtsman, printmaker and sculptor. Matisse was one of the main artists who helped to create modern art early in the 20th century.

"Matisse created brilliantly colored canvases structured by color applied in a variety of brushwork, ranging from thick impasto [thick paint] to flat areas of pure pigment, sometimes accompanied by a sinuous, arabesque-like line. [This was] the first of the avant-garde movements (1905–7), named "Fauvism" by a contemporary art critic, referring to its use of arbitrary combinations of bright colors and energetic brushwork to structure the composition".