Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso

            Henri Matisse was one of the most influential artists of the twentieth century. He was born in France on December 31, 1869. His parents were Emile Hippolyte Matisse and Anna Heloise Gerard. He grew up in Bohain-en-Vermandois and studied law school in Paris from 1887 to 1888. In 1890 he suffered from a severe case of appendicitis and his mother gave him a paint set to keep him occupied. Discovering his passion for painting he left behind his job in law went to study art in Paris under Gustav Moreau. Matisse experimented with different techniques like the intense colors and bold strokes that led the Fauvism movement. In 1919 Matisse and his artwork finally became renowned. However Matisse was later diagnosed with duodenal cancer and it left him permanently in a wheelchair. This led him to develop a new art form he called “drawing with scissors” which was a method of cutting out shapes of paper and making them into designs. Matisse’s final project was the décor for a chapel in Venice from 1948 to 1951. He used color cutout techniques to complete it. He died on November 3, 1954. Some works from Henry Matisse are Open Window, Blue Nude II, Les Pivoines, and Dance. 

Henri Matisse. Open Window. 1905. Oil on canvas. 5.3 cm × 46 cm

National Gallery of Art, Washington

Matisse, Henry. Blue Nude II. 1959. Gouache-painted paper cut-outs stuck to

paper mounted on canvas. 116.2 cm × 88.9 cm. Pompidou centre, Paris.

Matisse, Henri. Les Pivoines. 1907. Oil on canvas. 25½ x 21¼ in. private collection

Matisse, Henri. Dance. 1909. Oil on canvas. 259.7 cm × 390.1 cm. 

museum of modern art, New York City. 

            Pablo Picasso was one of the most important figures of the twentieth century. He was born on October 25, 1881 in Malaga, Spain. His mother’s name was Maria Picasso Y Lopez and his father, Jose Ruiz Blasco, was an art professor and he would give Picasso art lessons. He studied art as well at the school of fine arts in Barcelona, Spain and at Madrid’s royal academy of San Fernando. Throughout his life he had different periods that characterized the art he made. For example he had his blue period where he painted somber and depressing works in shades of blue. He also had a rose period where he still painted somber scenes but he used lighter colors. Yet another period was his cubism period where he started painting in geometric and sharp shapes. Throughout Picasso’s life he made around 50,000 works of art ranging from paintings to tapestries. He died at the age of 92 in 1973.

             Matisse experimented with many styles from impressionism to abstract but he is most famous for his fauvism. It’s a style that uses bold strokes and saturated unmixed colors. A popular piece during his fauvism period was Open Window. People were shocked by the huge strokes and luminous colors. The fauve movement didn't last very long but it was a precursor to the modernist movement. The mediums he used were drawing, painting, collage, sculpting, graphic arts, book illustration, pen, ink, paper cutouts, etc. An example of one of his paper cutout works is Blue Nude.

Picasso had a wider array of styles compared to Matisse. He was a person who painted what he felt but he could do so in many styles sometimes combining more than one in an artwork. He went through different periods during his life like the blue period of which a popular piece is The Old Guitarist. 

Picasso, Pablo. The old guitarist. 1903. Oil on panel

122.9 cm × 82.6 cm. art institute of Chicago.

This period was brought on because of the death of his friend Casagemas and he only painted in shades of blue. Also there was the rose period of which a piece from that period is Family of Saltimbanques. 

Picasso, Pablo. Family of Saltimbanques. 1905. Oil on canvas

212.8 cm x 229.6 cm. Chester dale collection, national gallery of art. 

His works during this period were brighter and warm colored, usually using the color pink. During another period he is known to have co invented cubism which is drawing with angular shapes. Some works from this cubism period are The Weeping Woman and Les Demoiselles d'Avignon. 

Picasso, Pablo. The Weeping Woman. 1937. Oil on canvas. 

60 cm× 49 cm. Tate modern, London

Picasso, Pablo. Les Demoiselles d'Avignon. 1907. Oil on canvas. 

243.9 cm × 233.7 cm. Museum of modern art, New York.

In the case of mediums both of these artists used a wide amount but Picasso experimented with almost anything art related like printmaking, drawing, sculpture, painting, ceramics, collage, oil painting, watercolor, lithograph, etc.