Henri Matisse was born at Le Cateau-Cambrésis in the North of France on December 31, 1869. His parents, Emile Matisse and Héloise Gérars, had a general store selling household goods and seed. Henri planned on a legal career, and in 1887/88 studied law in Paris, in 1889 he was employed as a clerk in a solicitor’s office. It was in 1890 that he was first attracted to painting. Confined to his bed for nearly a year (1890) after an intestinal operation, he chose drawing as a pastime. Then the hobby took best of him and he decided for the painting career.
The long years of learning followed: in 1891 Matisse studied under Bouguereau at the Académie Julian, and in 1892 transferred unofficially to Gustave Moreau’s studio at the Ecole Beaux-Arts, where he met Marquet, at the same time attending the Ecole Nationale des Arts Décoratifs.
1897. Oil on canvas. Private collection.
c. 1897. Oil on canvas. The Hermitage, St. Petersburg, Russia.
1898. Oil on canvas. The Hermitage, St. Petersburg, Russia.
1899. Oil on canvas. The Hermitage, St. Petersburg, Russia.
1900. Oil on canvas. The Hermitage, St. Petersburg, Russia.
1900. Oil on canvas. The Museum of Modern Arts, New York, NY, USA.
1901. Oil on canvas. The Hermitage, St. Petersburg, Russia.
c. 1901-2. Oil on canvas. The Hermitage, St. Petersburg, Russia.
1903. Oil on canvas. Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, UK.
c.1903-6. Oil on canvas. The Hermitage, St. Petersburg, Russia.
1904. Oil on canvas. Musée National d'Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France.
1905. Oil on canvas. Private collection.
1905. Oil on canvas. Private collection.
1905. Oil on canvas. Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen, Denmark.
1905. Oil on canvas. Acquavella Galleries, New York, NY, USA.
1905. Oil on canvas. Private collection.
1905. Oil on canvas. Private collection.
1905. Oil on canvas. Tate Gallery, London, UK.
1905-6. Oil on canvas. The Museum of Modern Arts, New York, NY, USA.
1905-1906. Oil on canvas. Barnes Foundation, Lincoln University, Merion, PA, USA.
Matisse. by M. Alpatov. Moscow. 1969.
Matisse in Russia. by A. Kostenevich and N. Semenova. Moscow. 1993.
Henri Matisse on Art. Correspondence. Moscow. 1993.
Painting of Europe. XIII-XX centuries. Encyclopedic Dictionary. Moscow. Iskusstvo. 1999.
Jazz by Henri Matisse, Sophie Hawkes (Translator), Riva Castleman. George Braziller, 1992.
Matisse Portraits by John Klein. Yale Univ Pr, 2001.
The Unknown Matisse: A Life of Henri Matisse: The Early Years, 1869-1908 by Hilary Spurling. Knopf, 1998.
Matisse on Art (Documents of Twentieth-Century Art) by Henri Matisse, Jack Flam. University of California Press, 1995.
Matisse and Picasso: The Story of their Rivalry and Friendship by Jack D. Flam. Westview Press, 2003.
Matisse by Pierre Schneider (Author), Michael Taylor, Bridget Strevens Romer. Rizzoli, 2002.
The Essential: Henri Matisse by Abrams. Harry N. Abrams, 1999.
Matisse, Picasso, Miro--as I Knew Them by Rosamond Bernier. Knopf, 1991.