Henri Matisse, an avant-garde painter who could paint in imitation of nature as much as he wanted. In fact, he did so for fifteen years before deciding that art and nature are different things. Always immersed in the study of Byzantine mosaics and oriental carpets until he had the idea of translating everything into something very chromatic. His design became a maze of curves like moles Fishes Red, while in the La sposa Indiana it looks like a chessboard, in all cases his painting is always far from enhancing the image, preferring rather the color scheme.
It wasn't easy when in 1905, at the age of 35, he decided to send his first large, decidedly unrealistic drawing to the Salon (the Paris national exhibition). The drawing, titled Donna with il hat, exploded like a bomb in artistic circles. The public judged him a scribble with fakes, making fun of Matisse calling him an ignoramus, a madman, a caricaturist. But the painting was still sold to the American merchant who first called it a horrible scab and then returned and bought it for 500 francs. Money that was very useful to the painter who hardly made ends meet. For years his parents had sent him 100 francs and a sack of rice every month.
The merchant showed the work to his sister, the writer Gertrude Stein, in whose Parisian living room avant-garde painters and writers met, and it is here that the genius of Matisse was recognized, and it is also here that he met Picasso and other illustrious art critics such as Bernard Berenson and Roger Fry, as well as wealthy and famous collectors. His success gave him even more courage to break free from the naturalistic concept and photographic painting: he created Enjoyment di to live, the almost abstract color composition of nudes in an earthly paradise. When this work was exhibited in 1906 the public again derided it, and Matisse's most enthusiastic supporter, Leo Stein, was dismayed, but after seeing the work several times he was convinced that it was the most important creation of the age. and bought it.
Although Matisse was criticized by his own environment as a "criminal" of art and an apostle of ugliness, he managed to support himself by increasingly selling the works he produced. In 1908 a Russian bought him all of last year's production, and ordered The Dance together with many other paintings. Second only to Picasso he always remained the same, simple and modest. His painting became even more conservative. It was like the art of the Persians and the Byzantines, an art based on drawing, but which slowly got a little closer to reality: the goldfish a little more like goldfish, the tomatoes more tomatoes and well-built and attractive women. He loved the freedom of his thoughts, he had never been imprisoned for money or convenience, he knew well that if he hadn't listened to his heart he would have painted the gray of an unhappy life. One December Matisse went to the Mediterranean coast and here he fell in love with the sun of the Riviera to such an extent that he decided to go and live there, he chose a studio with a large window overlooking the sea… while the birds sang above his head. His latest work was a new experience, an excursion into the field of architecture that took up a modern chapel for a nursing home for young girls, right in nearby Vence. He designed everything, the white-tiled building, the stained glass windows, the sacred vestments, the chandeliers, the crucifix on the altar, the 15 wall panels and the 14 Stations of the Cross. He was happy, he had created his masterpiece. "I would like to dance among ancient mosaics and oriental carpets, I would like to observe the color of the world and not its reflected image. I wish I could translate thoughts into reality, I wish I could say that there is nothing more beautiful than the joy of feeling free from all psychological and temporal slavery."
