Born 1869 in Picardy region of Northern France – Died 1954 in Nice

He was originally studying to be a lawyer when he became seriously ill  at the age of 21.  During convalescence he started painting and soon discovered his fascination and love for art which was to become his life long passion.

Two years later in 1892 he gave up his career as a lawyer and enrolled in art classes at the Ecole Des Beaux-Arts in Paris and so begun the incredible journey from student to absolute master of his craft.

Matisse is accepted as one of the all time great painters internationally recognised for his use of daring, bright colours.

In 1941 Matisse had abdominal cancer surgery with such a debilitating effect that he was no longer able to stand upright at his easel, and so he had to turn to another form of artistic expression.  He created paper cut-outs in the same vivid colours and compositions as his paintings.  With the help of an assistant he could work lying in bed or in an armchair.

Between 1950 and 1954 Matisse designed a series of extremely brightly coloured gouache paper cut outs, in late 1953 it was decided to do a run of lithographs of these works.  Matisse personally directed and supervised the first pulls during 1954 in collaboration with the renowned lithographers Mourlot Freres of Paris.  These are a selection of the original lithographs from the 1954 Edition after Matisse’s cut outs.