SEE THE LIGHT

Although born in Nord and educated in Paris, Henri Matisse’s artistic work was influenced most vividly by his time on the Côte d’Azur, as Lara Dunn discovers

- Lara Dunn

Just over 150 years ago, Henri Matisse was born to a merchant family in Le Cateau-Cambrésis in the Nord département. Far from immediately embarking upon a creative career, as we may imagine from an artist so influential during and after his lifetime, young Matisse actually went to Paris to study law.

It wasn’t long before he realised that the legal life was not for him, however, and art became his passion, with a return to Paris for very different studies. Matisse’s time in the capital lasted some 26 years, during which his artistic style grew and was shaped by both his studies and his numerous travels.

Matisse visited places as diverse as Corsica, London (where he studied the works of JMW Turner) and Morocco, among others. Arguably the strongest influence on his work, though, was the latter 37 years of his life, which he chose to spend on the Côte d’Azur.

Walking along the Promenade des Anglais in Nice, it’s easy to see why Matisse fell in love with it so quickly. The painter visited in the winter of 1917, with the intention of staying for a short while to recuperate from bronchitis. He spent most of his time in his room at the Hôtel Beau Rivage but the light and colour by the Mediterranean swiftly made an impression, as he observed in a letter to his wife Amélie back in Paris: “From my open window you can see the top of a palm tree” and “sky and sea blue – blue – blue.”

It did not take long before he was utterly captivated by the city and its scenery, making the decision to stay and taking studio space just around the corner from the lodgings at 105 Quai des États-Unis.