Henri Matisse was born in France on December 31, 1869.  Matisse became a lawyer.  While recuperating from surgery, his mother brought him paints, from that moment on he was dedicated to art.

By 1900 Matisse was the leader of the Post Impressionists and was known as an "Expressionist".  Expressionists painted their emotional reactions to events occurring around them.  They experimented with bright, bold colors.

Matisse used colors to tell stories.  He used simple colors.  He used blue to show truth and heaven, orange to show love and gentleness, red to show excitement or fire and green to show growth or change.  Today, people find enjoyment trying to understand the story Matisse was telling in his pictures.

As Matisse became old and ill, he painted less and started to create collages.  He was one of the first collage

artists.  It was easier for him to cut the paper than to paint due to his old age and illnesses. 

Henri Matisse believed that an artist's painting should bring pleasure to the viewer.  Through the use of bright, bold colors and simple lines and shapes his paintings have brought pleasure to millions of people throughout the world.  He died in 1954 as one of the finest and most famous artists in the world.