Henri Matisse is one of the most celebrated artists of Modernism. His groundbreaking work had a significant influence on his contemporaries and many subsequent artists to this day. The retrospective at the Fondation Beyeler spans all of the artist’s creative periods. Beginning with the paintings from around 1900, the show advances through the revolutionary Fauvist paintings, the experimental works of the 1910s, the sensual paintings from the Nice period and the 1930s, and culminates in the legendary cut-outs of his late period. Drawing on Charles Baudelaire’s poem Invitation to the Voyage from 1857, the exhibition and catalogue are conceived as a journey through Matisse’s work and life.

HENRI MATISSE (1869–1954) began painting at the age of 21. As a leading representative of Fauvism, he achieved fame early in his career. Throughout his life, he experimented in various media and continued to develop artistically. Numerous trips to the Mediterranean region, North Africa, Russia, the US and Tahiti influenced his work.