Henri Matisse (1869 - 1954)

Excerpts from Henri Matisse's Writings (source)

[editor's note: I highly recommend that anyone interested in Matisse read Jack Flamm's Matisse on Art, which contains writings and interviews from throughout the artist's life, and which is quite illuminating.]

From Notes of a Painter, published in La Grande Revue, 1908

"It is not possible for me to copy nature in a servile way; I am forced to interpret nature and submit it to the spirit of the picture. From the relationships I have found in all the tones there must result a living harmony of colors, a harmony analogous to that of a music composition."

The Girl with Green Eyes, o/c, 1908, SF MOMA
Image courtesy of Mark Harden's Artchive

"My choice of colors does not rest on any scientific theory; it is based on observation, on feeling, on the experience of my sensibility. Inspired by certain pages of Delacroix, an artist like Signac is preoccupied with complementary colors, and the theoretical knowledge of them will lead him to use a certain tone in a certain place. But I simply try to put down colors which render my sensation."

"What I dream of is an art of balance, of purity and serenity, devoid of troubling or depressing subject matter, an art that could be for every mental worker, for the businessman as well as the man of letters, for example, a soothing, calming influence on the mind, something like a good armchair that provides relaxation from fatigue."

"A distinction is made between painters who work directly from nature and those who work purely from imagination. Personally, I think neither of these methods must be preferred to the exclusion of the other. Both may be used in turn by the same individual, either because he needs contact with objects in order to receive sensations that will excite his creative facility, or because his sensations are already organized."

"Those who work in a preconceived style, deliberately turning their backs on nature, miss the truth. An artist must recognize, when he is reasoning, that his picture is an artifice; but when he is painting, he should feel that he has copied nature. And even when he departs from nature, he must do it with the conviction that it is only to interpret her more fully."

From an interview with Ragnar Hoppe, 1919

"...when you have achieved what you want in a certain area, when you have exploited the possibilities that lie in one direction, you must, when the time comes, change course, search for something new. For the time being, I am working predominantly in black and gray, with neutral, subdued tones, because I felt that this was necessary for me right now. It was quite simply a question of hygiene. If I had continued down the other road, which I knew so well, I would have ended up as a mannerist. One must always keep one's eye, one's feeling, fresh; one must follow one's instincts."

From an interview with Jacques Guenne, 1925

[editor's note: talking about the influence of Cezanne]

"Cézanne, you see, is a sort of god of painting. Dangerous, his influence? So what? Too bad for those without the strength to survive it. Not to be strong enough to withstand an influence without weakening is proof of impotence. I will repeat what I once said to Guillaume Apollinaire: 'For my part, I have never avoided the influence of others, I would have considered this cowardice and lack of sincerity towards myself.' I believe that the artist's personality affirms itself by the struggle he has survived. One would have to be very foolish not to notice the direction in which others work. I am amazed that some people can be so lacking in anxiety as to imagine that they have grasped the truth of their art on the first try. I have accepted influences, but I think I have always known how to dominate them."