by Fulcrum Gallery Staff
17. April 2013 14:59
What better to add color to your home than the work of an artist known for his masterful use of color? We're speaking, of course, of Henri Matisse.
Born the oldest son of a wealthy grain merchant, Henri began his career not on in art, but rather in Paris studying law and working as a court administrator. Hardly the stuff of creativity! However, strange as it may seem, it was a bout of appendicitis that changed the course of his life and the history of art.
Recovering in the hospital in 1889, his mother brought him a box of art supplies, advising him to listen to his emotions rather than follow the "rules" of art. He later said,
“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.”
Although his father was severely disappointed, nothing could prevent him from going after the "kind of paradise" that he had discovered in the ability to create art. And so he returned to Paris, this time to study art, immersing himself in the work of others, even going into debt purchasing the work of those he admired.
Whether being entranced by the exotic colors of the abstract La Danseuse Creole or feeling the exhilarating freedom of Dance, the work of Henri Matisse is sure to fill you with the same love of colors and feeling of having found paradise that the artist himself felt.
