Small Odalisque with Purple Robe

About The Artist: Henri Matisse

Matisse was born in Le Cateau-Cambrésis in northern France on December 31, 1869. The son of a middle-class family, he studied and began to practice law. In 1890, however, while recovering slowly from an attack of appendicitis, he became intrigued by the practice of painting. In 1892, having given up his law career, he went to Paris to study art formally. He joined Gustave Moreau's studio at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts where he met Camoin,...