Becoming Matisse: 1890-1911. The Greatest Gift of the Masters

On the 150th anniversary of the
painter Henri Matisse (1869-1954), the Musee Matisse in
Cateau-Cambresis, which was founded by the artist in his hometown in
1952, pays tribute to the lesser-known man of the North, who became one
of the greatest masters of the 20th century.

You thought you knew
everything about Matisse’s work? This exhibition reveals the mystery of
the first 20 years of his career and the awakening of a genius moving
from shadow to light. It honours his early works from the revelation of
painting, and his academic training until the end of his academic
studies in Paris, where he taught until 1911.

This decisive and
defining period of his identity helps us to understand how he grew into a
painter on his Hauts-de-France lands. It dissects the creative process
of the man copying the ancients, drawing inspiration from the greatest
masters of the past and his contemporaries, to shake the codes with
‘luxury, calm and voluptuousness’ and impose himself on the rank of
those he has contemplated.

Text in English and French.