This is Henri Emile Benoît Matisse. He was born on December 31, 1869 in France. He began painting in 1889 after he had an attack of appendicitis. His mother bought him an art set while he was healing. His mother encouraged him not to follow all of the rules of art. She told him that he needed to express himself in the way that he felt necessary. His change in profession disappointed his father. He studied art in Paris. He began painting still-lives and landscapes. He completed numerous paintings and won several awards.
Matisse and Picasso were rivals. They first met at a party of Gertrude Stein. Picasso is 11 years younger than Matisse. These two were polar opposites by their looks and lifestyles. Matisse painted from nature and Picasso painted and worked from imagination. They both painted women and still-lives. Matisse was more likely to place his figures in fully realized interiors.
In 1941, Matisse was diagnosed with cancer and was left in a wheelchair following surgery. Matisse called what he did with the paper cut outs, "painting with scissors." Matisse enjoyed the paper cut outs because he was still able to express himself even though his options were limited because of his illness. His assistants brushed Linel gouaches on sheets of white paper. After they were dry, Matisse would have a hole stack of papers to choose from. He would freely start cutting out things spontaneously. He would arrange them any way that he wanted.