Matisse’s Golden Years

Henri's Scissors
Written & Illustrated by Jeanette Winter
Age Level: 3-7 Years
Published August 27, 2013

What’s not to love?

Explore the creativity and beauty of master artist Henri Matisse’s legendary paper cutouts. And have a stack of construction paper nearby for afterwards!

As a young man, Matisse abandoned a career in law to devote himself fully to his lifelong passion and became an artist. He achieved great success as a painter, but he developed cancer in his old age that made it impossible for him to paint. He relocated to Nice for the benefits of the sea air, and began a new and remarkable artistic chapter when he swapped his paintbrush for a pair of scissors and created art out of large paper cut-outs.

“‘You see, as I am obliged to remain often in bed … I have made a little garden all around me where I can walk … There are leaves, fruits, a bird.’”
- Henri Matisse

Author Jeanette Winter weaves quotations throughout the book that she gathered from Matisse’s correspondence with his close friend, writer André Rouveyre. It’s powerful to read Matisse’s very own words and hear the immense joy that he found in his final phase of work. Winter’s book is comforting in that it tells the story of an artist and a man who lived a full and passionate creative life that left him feeling deeply satisfied and content up until his final breath.