Paint Like Henri Matisse

Purple Robe and Anemones, 1937

HENRI  MATISSE

"Creativity takes courage."

Matisse had plenty of courage. He was a draughtsman, printer, sculptor, and most famously, a painter. His large paintings were filled with bold forms, rich colors, and vibrant patterns. He was considered by other artists of his time (as well as modern artists) a "master" of color. 


As we studied Matisse's paintings we found that many of his paintings shared the same still life objects. In particular, several portrait paintings contained the gray or silver vase shown in the painting above. In each painting the vase was sitting on a table, filled with various flowers, and surrounded by pieces of fruit. 

For our painting, we created this vase of flowers on a background of lively Matisse-style colors and patterns! 

First we divided a large piece of heavy paper into 4 equal sections and painted each a different color using cake temperas.


While the paint dried, we drew our vase and saucer on another piece of paper and painted it gray using any mixture of complementary colors, but not black and white. Most chose yellow and violet since these colors were also used in their backgrounds. 

Next, we created a pattern in each section of the background using oil pastels and one to three colors for each pattern. 

Then we also drew and painted a few lemons, oranges, and at least 3 large flowers or 5 smaller flowers for our still life.

We outlined and added details to our vases in oil pastel, cut them out, and glued them to the background.

Then we cut out and arranged the fruit on the saucer and table until it looked "right," and glued the fruit down. 

Finally, we cut and glued the flowers to the painting, remembering that a stem needed to be attached to the bottom of each flower, which might affect how it is positioned. The stems and leaves were then added with oil pastels, using two shades of green. 

The lovely paintings are very Matisse-like, aren't they?

Our thanks to Do Art! for this great project idea!