Henri Matisse

Self Portrait (1918) by Henri Matisse, in the Musée Départemental Henri Matisse, Le Cateau-Cambrésis, France

Self-Portrait in a Striped T-shirt (1906) by Henri Matisse, in the Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen, Henri Matisse, General (Photo courtesy of Statens Museum for Kunst)

Red Room (Harmony in Red) (1908) by Henri Matisse, in the State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia, Henri Matisse, General (Photo courtesy of the State Hermitage Museum)

La Danse I (1909) by Henri Matisse, in the Museum of Modern Art, New York, Henri Matisse, General (Photo courtesy of MoMA)

Madame Matisse in a Red Madras (1907) by Henri Matisse, in the Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia, Henri Matisse, General (Photo courtesy of the Barnes Foundation)

Portrait of Madame Matisse (The Green Line) (1905) by Henri Matisse, in the Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen, Henri Matisse, General (Photo courtesy of the Statens Museum for Kunst)

Blue Nude (Souvenir de Biskra) (1907) by Henri Matisse, in the Baltimore Museum of Art, Henri Matisse, General (Photo courtesy of the Baltimore Museum of Art)

The Pink Nude (1935) by Henri Matisse, in the Baltimore Museum of Art, Henri Matisse, General (Photo courtesy of the Baltimore Museum of Art)

Blue Nude II (1952) by Henri Matisse, in the Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, Henri Matisse, General (Photo courtesy of the Musée National d

Le bonheur de vivre (1905–06) by Henri Matisse, in the Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia, Henri Matisse, General (Photo courtesy of the Barnes Foundation)

Le Chat aux Poisson Rouges (The Cat with the Goldfish) (1914) by Henri Matisse, Henri Matisse, General (Photo by unknown)

Luxe, Calme et Volupté ("Luxury, Calm and Pleasure") (1904) by Henri Matisse, in the Musée d'Orsay, Paris, Henri Matisse, General (Photo courtesy of the Musée d

Nu (Carmelita) (1904) by Henri Matisse, in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Henri Matisse, General (Photo courtesy of the Museum of Fine Arts)

Henri Matisse in Paris, May 13th, 1913, Henri Matisse, General (Photo by Alvin Langdon Coburn)

The great early 20C French artist took post-Impressionism into the colorful realms of fauvism

Henri-Émile-Benoît Matisse (1869-1954) was one of several contemporaries who took a hint from sythetism and added wild colors and strong patterns to create Fauvism ("wild beasts").

Matisse continued exploring these themes even when most artists were turning to Cubism, and later in life (with failing health) began assembling brightly colored collages of paper cutouts.

Selected works by Henri Matisse in England

Back I (plaster model: 1913; bronze cast: 1955) by Henri Matisse in the Tate Modern, London

The Snail (1953) by Henri Matisse in the Tate Modern, London

Studio Interior (1903–04) by Henri Matisse, showing a corner of Matisse's apartment at 19 Quai St. Michel, Paris, where he lived from 1899 to 1907 in the Tate Modern, London