Henri Matisse

1869 - 1954

Henri Matisse was born in 1869, in Le Cateau in northern France. Over his six-decade-long career, he worked in various media, from painting to sculpture to printmaking. While his subject matter was quite traditional—nudes, figures in landscapes, portraits, interior views—his revolutionary use of brilliant colours, fluid lines, and exaggerated forms to express emotion made him one of the twentieth century’s most influential artists.