Being here at the Matisse Museum, built mainly into the Villa des Arenes in Nice’s Cimiez suburb, I can certainly see the appeal of the area. The climate is mild, the Mediterranean shore a few brief minutes away, but seeming almost as if in another world from this hilltop retreat. The Roman ruins of Cemenelum don’t hurt the ambience, either. (Click here to read about Roman Nice.) It is no shock that upon finding this place, the artist Henri Matisse would make it his home, and much of his inspiration for his storied life and career.

The Matisse Museum houses one of the largest collections of the artist’s work, and occupies a unique spot within the exhibition sphere as most of the works here were donated by Matisse himself or his family. So what the museum lacks in known pieces it more than makes up for via those with sentimental value for the man, displaying a wide variety of mediums and even glimpses into Matisse’s creation process. And, since it is mainly that private personal collection, a visit takes art fans through the entirety of Henri Matisse’s life and career, even though the focal point is his time here in Nice.

Henri Matisse was born in the north of France in 1869. But unlike many who would become pioneers of the art world, he didn’t even begin to paint until the age of 20; before that he studied law. But he so fell in love with the act of creation that he dropped out of law school and, at the relatively old (for the industry) age of 22, enrolled in art school in Paris.

His early work shows little of the bright colors, thick lines, and unique shapes that would define his style. Rather, he did what most artists of the time did, focusing on still life images and rather realistic depictions of the human body. Musculature, in particular, seemed to capture him, and while that would become a theme with some of his later models, images like a dead Jesus are certainly not ones Matisse fans would recognize as his.

In addition to paint, Matisse enjoyed sculpture, and the museum displays works of his in that medium from the early 1900s on, although his 1930s series of a woman’s back in gradually lessening detail (each panel was roughly two years apart) shows an evolution (devolution actually) in the way the artist saw the human image and is said to be one of his most defining sculptural projects.

What we most commonly think of as “vintage Matisse” is his fauvist period, centered around 1905. As the story goes, after being introduced to the work of Vincent Van Gogh, Matisse adopted a new style utilizing more abstract brush strokes and bright colors.

The style fell out of favor quickly, but while Henri Matisse would adapt and adopt new mediums and new focal points for his own art, his use of color would remain at the center for much of his career. It is during this period that he also began to travel, and the use of Moorish imagery from Spain and North Africa showed up in many of his works.

In 1917, Henri Matisse moved to Nice, alternating his time between the city’s waterfront and his home and studio in a hotel in Cimiez, less than a mile from the current museum. His work during this period seems to alternate between portraiture in varying levels of detail of his (mainly nude female) models, many of whom would become like members of his family with relationships that would continue for years, and some of his most monumental works of his own style and colors. (The museum’s collection focuses on the former since those most famous pieces are all elsewhere.)

One of my favorite rooms in the Matisse Museum focuses on his 1930s work, La Danse. (It is actually La Danse II since he did an earlier version in 1909.) For this huge mural for the Barnes Foundation in New York, Matisse spent literally months sketching and painting (in varying detail) possible versions of it before doing the actual work. It is those practice rounds that are on display here, and it is a fascinating look into the artist’s process, one that we see a few more times in the museum, as those sketches were things Matisse kept for himself and then donated.

World War Two brought a significant amount of change to Henri Matisse’s life. Nazi occupation of France (he remained in Vichy Nice), divorce, and a cancer diagnosis led to a dramatic reduction in both his desire and ability to paint. While confined to a hospital bed or a wheelchair for sometimes weeks on end, he began to experiment with collage, using brightly painted paper in fascinatingly cut out shapes, something he would come to refer to as “painting with scissors.”

Matisse would cut out shapes, playing with the abstractions, and instruct his assistants with where and how to glue them onto plaster or even tile. The Matisse Museum displays a couple of his huge works, as well as many cutouts on their own, those not used or utilized as placeholders.

During this period, when he did paint, it was often in simple broad strokes. A series of faces best illustrates this, many of which are the models he worked with over the years and who he knew the details of by heart.

One of Henri Matisse’s last major projects was a Dominican chapel in nearby Vence. From 1948 to 1951, the artist directed all aspects of the Chapel of the Rosary, designing muraled tile of the stations of the cross, stained glass, and even the doors and windows. Some of his paper outlines are on display here, as is a huge image of the completed project.

In 1954, Henri Matisse died of a heart attack here in Cimiez, where he is buried.

Before coming to Nice and the Matisse Museum, I thought I understood his art. It was bright colors and abstract shapes. Well, yes it is, but it is also so much more. Henri Matisse broke the bounds of any one style or medium. Some of that was by choice and by natural evolution; some of it was forced by circumstances. But his desire to create never dimmed, and even in 1929 when he was apparently too depressed to paint, he got into etching. Because why not.

Nice, and the entire south of France, is a focal point for so many artists. But few are so identified with this region – and this city – as Henri Matisse. It was wonderful to spend part of a day celebrating him and his creations.

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