Black and white portrait of Henri Matisse with round glasses and a white beard
Henri Matisse, 20 May 1933. Photo: Carl Van Vechten, Library of Congress, via Wikimedia Commons. Cropped and framed by CoolCuration.

Last updated: 27 October 2026

Henri Matisse is the French painter of bold colour and, late in life, paper cut-outs. Here you will find our take on his work, where to see it in the UK, and the books and gifts you can buy.

Our take on Henri Matisse

Matisse spent a long career making colour do the work: in painting, in drawing and, in his last years, in shapes cut from painted paper. Tate’s 2014 show of those cut-outs at Tate Modern produced a book that is still on sale.

Tate holds 19 of his works, from Notre-Dame (c.1900) to The Dancer (1949), according to Tate. Trivaux Pond (1916 or 1917) is on display at Tate St Ives.

The easiest way to bring Matisse home is a book or one of the Tate shop’s small gifts based on The Snail.

Henri Matisse: the essentials

  • Born in 1869; died in 1954, according to Tate.
  • Tate holds 19 works, including André Derain (1905), The Inattentive Reader (1919) and Reclining Nude II (1927).
  • Trivaux Pond (1916 or 1917) is on display at Tate St Ives, in Modern Art and St Ives.
  • Photographed by Carl Van Vechten on 20 May 1933.

Henri Matisse in the UK

  • Trivaux Pond is on display at Tate St Ives.
  • We found no current Matisse exhibition in the UK.

Where to buy Henri Matisse

Many “Matisse prints” online are unofficial posters. From the Tate shop:

  • Henri Matisse: The Cut-Outs, £30: the paperback that accompanied the touring cut-outs exhibition, edited by Karl Buchberg, Nicholas Cullinan and Jodi Hauptman, from the Tate shop.
  • The Snail keyring, £5: from the Tate shop.

Henri Matisse FAQs

Where can I see Matisse in the UK?

Tate holds 19 works, and Trivaux Pond is on display at Tate St Ives.

What are Matisse’s cut-outs?

Works he made late in life from shapes cut out of painted paper, shown at Tate Modern in 2014.

When did Henri Matisse live?

From 1869 to 1954.

Can I buy a Matisse book in the UK?

Yes. Henri Matisse: The Cut-Outs is £30 from the Tate shop.

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Main image: Henri Matisse, 20 May 1933. Photo: Carl Van Vechten, Library of Congress, via Wikimedia Commons. Cropped and framed by CoolCuration. Exhibition dates and prices last checked: 27 October 2026.