Henri Matisse was one of the most influential artists of the 20th century, a founding Fauvist and lifelong experimenter whose career spanned six decades of radical reinvention. Born in northern France, he began studying law before a chance encounter with painting during a convalescence transformed his life. His radical use of non-naturalistic color — pure, unmodulated, expressive — shocked critics at the 1905 Salon d'Automne, earning his group the name 'Fauves' (wild beasts). His greatest works — The Dance, The Joy of Life, the Vence Chapel — celebrate sensory pleasure, Mediterranean warmth, and the decorative as a form of spiritual expression. In his last years, confined to a wheelchair, he invented the paper cut-outs that are among the most joyful works of his career.
