Course description
French painter Henri Matisse (1869-1954), born a northerner, chose to live in the south of France for most of his career. From his bold 1906 Paris debut with the important painting Le Bonheur de Vivre (The Joy of Life) to lyrically distilled cut-paper works from his last years, Matisse made his subjects transcend daily life and express a sensuality—of line, color, shape, and space—that existed in an ethereal realm, beyond ordinary experience. His painting became a means of celebrating beauty and visual splendor as never before. Asked for an opinion of his friend's achievement after his death, Picasso replied, "In the end, there was only Matisse." This course examines major moments in Matisse's art that demonstrate how correct this judgment was.
