Les Velours, c.1947

French painter Henri Matisse (1869 – 1954) expressed joy through patterns, ornamentation and vivid colors. Given a paint set while recovering from an illness, Matisse described his discovery of art as “a kind of paradise.” Originally labeled a Fauvist, he produced early works that were remarkably mature. After seeing Impressionist and Japanese art, Matisse made color instrumental to his work, and experimented with expressive abstraction. He also decorated the Dominican nuns’ chapel at Vence, France when he was almost 80. Matisse, who was often nervous, relieved his tension through painting.

Also known as silk screening, serigraphy is a process by which multiple layers of ink are manually pressed through fine screens, resulting in an art print that resembles a painting on paper.