Katzenart on Rematice, 1869 to 1954. If you're interested in knowing more about the art and literature, then be sure to visit thegreatcat.org. Henri Amille Benoit Matisse was a draftspin printmaker, sculptor and painter known for his bold use of color, in addition to being a founder of the Phobus movement. His father was a successful grain merchant and his mother came from a family of tanners. In 1888, Matisse passed the bar exam and planned to become a lawyer. However, while bedridden for nearly two years after an attack of appendicitis, his mother gave him some art supplies to keep him busy. She was the first to tell him that art is not just drawing the object, but listening to the emotions that the object evokes. Matisse said, from the moment I held the box of colors in my hands, I knew this was my life. I threw myself into it like a beast that plunges towards the thing it loves. In fact, he was to say to his wife, I love you dearly, Mademoiselle, but I shall always love painting more. By 1896, Matisse had exhibited five paintings at the Societé National Debosaire. During this period, his work was highly influenced by the post-impressionist, Paul Seisen, Gogan, and Van Gogh. Matisse was acquainted with Gertrude Stein and met Pablo Picasso while attending her nightly Suarez. The two became lifelong friends despite the 11-year-old's difference. Matisse and Picasso painted primarily women and still lives and both were cat lovers. Matisse was especially attached to his two cats, Menouche and Cousin, when we fed pieces of brioche in the morning as well as his black cat La Pousse, the flea, who was pictured here. During the war years, he remained in Bichifrance, just as Picasso had done, and his daughter Marguerite was interred in Ravensbrook concentration camp until she escaped right before its liberation. Matisse suffered off and on from cancer and spent the last decade of his life primarily bedridden. Perhaps this is why he enjoyed the friendship of so many cats. Even though Matisse did not include the cat in many of his paintings, many contemporary artists have inserted cats in his paintings, making it difficult to discern which are actually done by Mr. Matisse. Matisse died of a heart attack at the age of 84 in 1954. Marguerite was Matisse's daughter who sat for him several times. In this very understated painting, she was just 15 years old and poses face on, seated on a chair. The cat on her lap, a simple black spot. She wears two pieces of jewelry, a brooch and a ring. The centering of the picture stops at the knees and the composition is defined by large blocks of color. Matisse painted other female figures presented in the same understated way as Marguerite, seated, hands on their lap, the space behind them split into two color blocks. Matisse commented on the painting saying, I give her grace, charm, and the idea is to give her something more. I condense the significance of the body by looking for the essential lines. The charm will be less apparent at first glance, but it should emerge over time from the new image I will have obtained, and which will have a bigger significance more fully human. The charm will be less striking, not being the only characteristic, but it will exist just the same, contained within the general conception of my figure. Le Chatte au pluson Rouge, or the cat and red fish, was painted in 1914. Here we see a lovely and might I say typical cat dipping its paw into a bowl of goldfish. Matisse captures the essential character of every cat in this very simple but colorful painting. Girl on a red couch with cat 1938 shows a relaxing and playful girl on a couch reaching down to stroke her black cat. Again, this might be the flee. Colorful and inviting this painting reflects positivity and a certain jua de vivre. Last jinois, soon a bureau of a chat that is to or Chinese base on a table with a cat beneath. Here we see a scene of uplifting colors, pink, green, red, blues, and yellow. A texito cat sits quite happily on a pillow positioned right under a small table where a Chinese base is sitting. The composition has a calming effect of a place well lived in and peaceful. Here we see a delightful blue cat cut out. In the 1940s, Matisse developed a new art form, the cut out. Matisse called this method painting with scissors. He made more than 210 years. Thanks for watching. Please drop a like and subscribe to our YouTube channel and catch more videos. Check out our website for more about the cat in history, art, and literature.