Matisse taught drawing and for a time—from 1895 to 1899—painted along conventional lines. Influenced by Cézanne he then broke with the academic and sought new light effects, effects quite different from those of the Impressionists.
He sought to break with all ancient laws, and his use of color became and still is largely his own.[26]
While his coloring is always interesting and his drawing facile, there is at times something about his work that is not satisfying, an atmosphere of superficiality. He is described, however, by those who know him as a painter of almost bourgeois earnestness and sincerity, taking himself and his work most seriously.
At the same time many of his canvasses give the impression of having been executed in a spirit of sheer audacity.
To be sure, there is a rhythm and swing to some of his moving figures that is delightful, delightful in the elemental simplicity of the drawing and the seemingly—but only seemingly—naive coloring.
Yet even with these canvases there is often the feeling, “With so much skill, why did he not do better?”—a feeling of disappointment, of dissatisfaction.
One is disposed to agree with the opinion that Matisse’s “true gifts are those of address, of souplesse, of quick assimilation, of limited but easily acquired knowledge—essentially feminine gifts.”[A]
“On a beaucoup vanté le goût d’Henri Matisse. Il n’est pas niable, mais d’une qualité secondaire. C’est le goût d’une modiste; son amour de la conleur vaut un amour du chiffon.”
He lives in a simple country house in a suburb out of Paris. His studio is painted white, within and without, with immense windows.[27]