Henri Matisse

1869-1954

Henri Matiise left his mark as a painter by evolving from realism to abstract and then creating a brand new format culminating in the Dance, painted in custom form for the Barnes Gallery outside of Philadelphia. He was born in Le Cateau-Cambrésis in the North of France and, after various trials at different careers, took up painting during convalescence from an operation when he was 31. In La Moulade, stones at the foot of cliffs, although from a distance the painting looks real, Matisse has taken the shapes and created a palette of colors even as his own working palette might have appeared The blue nude to the far right was drawn many times, some standing, some sitting, always idealizing the limbs as arrows in the patterned arrangement. The painting becomes a decoration rather than a picture.
	Matisse's blue nudes - the move to abstract art
	La Moulade