Henri Émile Benoît Matisse was a French artist, known for both his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a draughtsman, printmaker, and sculptor, but is known primarily as a painter.
He is commonly regarded as the co-founder of Fauvism, a revolutionary movement emphasizing painterly qualities and strong colour over realistic values retained by Impressionism.
After 3 years and 3 exhibitions later, Matisse abandoned Fauvist three-dimensional effects in favour of dramatically simplified areas of pure colour, flat shape and strong pattern.