Matisse the Phytophile

Abstract

This article aims to unveil the vegetal and vegetative forces underlying the creative process of Henri Matisse, arguing that phytophilia influenced every aspect of his painterly method. Drawing from the artist’s statements and broader philosophical studies of plant life, the article posits four key and closely related assertions: firstly, Matisse’s approach to his subjects required him to sink into an unconscious, vegetative state of mind, whereby the perceived entities appear to him as flows of vegetal energies rather than fixed entities. This state of mind is achieved through the cumulative act of painting and drawing, through which Matisse’s works become budding pictorial assemblages. Secondly, Matissean composition implies a vegetal organization characterized by multifocality, chromatic intensity, and spatial expansibility. Furthermore, owing to their plant-like swelling and dilation, his works have a soothing effect on the beholder and elicit his vegetative soul. Ultimately, in this article, Matisse emerges not just as a painter whose works are inhabited with vegetal shapes, but as a phytosopher whose profound knowledge of plant life permeates and informs all the constructive elements of his compositions.