Henri Matisse On Creative Spirit

I had to write about this quote because it encompasses ideas I have had, but Matisse presents them together in a way that is both elegant and enlightening in their truth. I guess I'm trying to say I have never put it (thoughts on the creative spirit) quite like that, but now that I see it, the simple truth of the statement is fascinating to me.

"Creative people are curious, flexible, persistent and independent with a tremendous spirit of adventure and a love of play."

- Henri Matisse (1869-1954)

Matisse's Self Portrait, 1918.

I know he lived in the past and I am in his future, but I feel like Matisse was reading my personality when he wrote these words. These are aspects of my self and of some of my closest friends. I remember in my adolescence being asked one of those general icebreaker questions during a group activity - what is your favorite quality about yourself?

My answer was immediately without question, my creativity. The open, unique and independent way I view the world, the way that I interpret it and my ability to express that in my work. It's fundamental in who I was then, who I am now, and who I hope to be.

Henri Matisse on Time & Painting

French painter Henri Matisse was truly a modern master, and his quote below can be approached from a few different angles.

"Time extracts various values from a painter's work. When these values are exhausted the pictures are forgotten, and the more a picture has to give, the greater it is."

-Henri Matisse (1869 -1954)

If an artist paints his politics then the work can lose it's impact in 10 or 20 years. But some historical and mythological art works remain as symbolic elements of culture even thousands of years after their creation. I think though that Matisse meant the more of one's self you can put into your work; the more emotional response, the greater and more timeless the work is. After all we experience everything subjectively, no painting is truly objective.

The Joy of Life, 1905-06, Henri Matisse.