Henri Matisse was born in 1869, the year the Cutty Sark was launched. The year he died, 1954, the first hydrogen bomb exploded at Bikini Atoll. Pity he didnt go for the triple and stick about for the moon landings on his 100th birthday. He would have been really useful at breaking the ice at boring dinner parties would't he?
Back to the serious bits; Matisse’s discovery of his true profession came about in an unusual manner. Following an attack of appendicitis, he began to paint in 1889, when his mother had brought him art supplies during the period of convalescence. He said later, “From the moment I held the box of colors in my hands, I knew this was my life. I threw myself into it like a beast that plunges towards the thing it loves.”
Matisse’s mother was the first to advise her son not to adhere to the “rules” of art, but rather listen to his own emotions. Matisse was so committed to his art that he later extended a warning to his fiancée, Amélie Parayre, whom he later married: “I love you dearly, mademoiselle; but I shall always love painting more.”
Gosh, He's a keeper isnt he! [They later divorced. Quel Surprise! Read an excellent overview of Matisse at:
http://www.henri-matisse.net/biography.html]
