Henri Matisse had always been looking for something different, keep his adversarial avidity to the flame of his contemporaries. From his earliest origins, Matisse appointed a plumb line in his paintings, while keeping lucid vertical lines against his speculatively-drawn and unfettered wavy lines. Matisse vacillates between a dour repose to the colorful, in fidelity to an ambition of finding naked expression ... an almost resplendent, subconscious desire.   The body of Matisse's work vaults over different mediums, always with a fascination to explore the unknown through vivid chromaticity. The most provocative (and relevant) period of his works, would come near the end of his career. This statement, delivers an accordant par betwixt that of popular opinion and the artist, himself.​
    In 1941, Matisse was diagnosed with Duodenal Cancer. After his treatment via surgery, he ended up constricted to a wheelchair. Determined, and full of a grander understanding of presenting art, Matisse reflects on this period as a burgeoning "Une seconde vie" (second life). These expressive works were fabricated as large scale imagery, by process of gouaches decoupes. Most widely known as Matisse's "cut-outs", these works were conceived and inspired by Matisse's familial history. As a descendant from tanners and weavers, Matisse was first taught these skills in a rural Bohain-en-Vermandois, France. These were skills of high importance, with a predilection towards the high-Parisian fashion, at the time.  Works like "Les Buisson", the Jazz Portfolio and the series of Blue Nudes, show an impactful effulgence, after a creative plateau in art, and a lack of exaggeration. "La Gerbe" (1953) shows an urgent expressiveness from an artist of vivre and resounding talent that ascends to both bewitch and arrest the viewer's gaze, by it's inventive approach on color, and use of a decorative practicum.​​
    This month we are featuring Henri Matisse's proudest and challenging works. Matisse's "cut-outs" and other posters by the artist are 25% off all throughout the month of March. Click HERE to view our collection.