More - Henri Matisse Quotes

The paper cutouts allow me to draw with color. For me, it is a simplification. Instead of drawing an outline and then filling in with color-with one modifying the other-I draw directly in color...It is not a starting point, it is a completion.

Henri Matisse

 

There are wonderful things in real jazz, the talent for improvisation, the liveliness, the being at one with the audience.

Henri Matisse

 Jazz

Drawing is putting a line (a)round an idea.

Henri Matisse

 Drawing

There is no interruption between my older paintings and my cutouts. Just that with an increasing sense of the absolute, and more abstraction, I have achieved a form that is simplified to its essence,

Henri Matisse

 

Truly, I'm not joking when I thank my lucky stars for the awful operation I had, since it has made me young again and philosophical which means that I don't want to fritter away the new lease on life I've been given.

Henri Matisse

 

An artist must never be a prisoner. Prisoner? An artist should never be a prisoner of himself, prisoner of style, prisoner of reputation, prisoner of success, etc.

Henri Matisse

 Art French Artist

Drawing is like making an expressive gesture with the advantage of permanence.

Henri Matisse

 Advantage French Artist

Jazz is rhythm and meaning.

Henri Matisse

 French Artist Jazz

My curves are not crazy.

Henri Matisse

 French Artist

The artist must summon all his energy, his sincerity, and the greatest modesty in order to shatter the old cliches that come so easily to hand while working, which can suffocate the little flower that does not come, ever, the way one expects.

Henri Matisse