Where can you see Henri Matisse in London?

At the Tate Modern: The Snail. Museums move and lend their works, so check before a special journey.

What is Henri Matisse's most famous work in London?

The Snail, of 1953, at the Tate Modern. Blocks of painted paper, orange, green, blue, magenta, black, turn in a loose spiral on a white ground inside an orange border. He called the method drawing with scissors.

When and where was Henri Matisse born?

On 31 December 1869, at Le Cateau-Cambrésis, France. Henri Matisse died on 3 November 1954, at Nice, France, aged about 85.

What is Henri Matisse known for?

Made The Snail in 1953, the year before he died. Assistants painted the paper and pinned the shapes where he pointed. Henri Matisse was a French painter, of Fauvism.

Painter, 1869 to 1954

Henri Matisse

In his eighties, after an operation that left him in a wheelchair, Matisse gave up paint for scissors. The Snail, of 1953, is the best-known result, and it is nearly three metres square.

Born: 1869, Le Cateau-Cambrésis, France
Died: 1954, Nice, France
Movement: Fauvism
In London: 1 work in 1 museum

Where to see Henri Matisse in London

Each work with the museum it hangs in. Museums move and lend their works, so check before a special journey.

Tate Modern1 work

The Snail
1953
Blocks of painted paper, orange, green, blue, magenta, black, turn in a loose spiral on a white ground inside an orange border. He called the method drawing with scissors.

The life of Henri Matisse

Henri Matisse was born in the north of France in 1869 and came to painting at twenty, while recovering from an illness. In 1905 he and his friends showed pictures in colours so strong that a critic called them wild beasts, fauves, and the name stuck. Colour remained his subject for fifty years, to the paper cut-outs he made in old age from his bed.

A Russian merchant, Sergei Shchukin, ordered two great panels from him in 1909, Dance and Music. Dance (I), the full-size first version in paler colours, is the one in New York. The Museum of Modern Art gave him a retrospective as early as 1931.

What to know

Made The Snail in 1953, the year before he died
Assistants painted the paper and pinned the shapes where he pointed

Born: 31 December 1869, Le Cateau-Cambrésis, France
Died: 3 November 1954, Nice, France

Henri Matisse: common questions

Where can you see Henri Matisse in London?: At the Tate Modern: The Snail. Museums move and lend their works, so check before a special journey.
What is Henri Matisse's most famous work in London?: The Snail, of 1953, at the Tate Modern. Blocks of painted paper, orange, green, blue, magenta, black, turn in a loose spiral on a white ground inside an orange border. He called the method drawing with scissors.
When and where was Henri Matisse born?: On 31 December 1869, at Le Cateau-Cambrésis, France. Henri Matisse died on 3 November 1954, at Nice, France, aged about 85.
What is Henri Matisse known for?: Made The Snail in 1953, the year before he died. Assistants painted the paper and pinned the shapes where he pointed. Henri Matisse was a French painter, of Fauvism.