We have been making quite a splash in our classrooms creating Koi with oil pastels and liquid watercolours inspired by Henri Matisse. Students began by drawing two koi circling each other on the page.
Next they used oil pastels to colour and decorate their fish.
And then it was time to add the water! They used green and blue watercolour to paint the water and finished with a swirl to make the water look alive.
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“There are always flowers for those who want to see them.”
Henri Matisse
Henri Matisse was born on December 31, 1869 in France. He grew up in a small town in Northern France and came from humble origins. His father was a grain merchant and his mother ran a paint shop and sold house paints. Henri later credited his mother’s colour sense as training for his own colour choices later in life.
In 1887 he went to Paris to study law. Although he found law tedious he nonetheless passed the bar in 1888 with distinction.
Matisse discovered painting after an attack of appendicitis. His mother brought him art supplies during his recovery time and right from the start he realised that this is what he wanted to do. Matisse’s mother was the first to advise her son not to adhere to the “rules” of art, but rather listen to his own emotions. Matisse was so committed to his art that he later extended a warning to his fiancée, Amélie Parayre, whom he later married: “I love you dearly, mademoiselle; but I shall always love painting more.”
Matisse was one of the leaders of the Fauvism an art movement known for paintings that expressed emotion and used unusual colours to paint their subjects. He is regarded as one of the great initiators of this modern art movement which uses bold primary colours and free, simple forms.
By the end of his life, Matisse was thoroughly interested in patterns and collage. Due to illness that confined him to a wheelchair he began to “paint with scissors.” He used bold hand painted paper cut into shapes.
He died November 3 1954 aged 84. His Grandson, Paul Matisse and Granddaughter, Sophie Matisse are both artists.
Art example, Goldfish, 1912