In 1941, Henri Matisse was diagnosed with cancer. At 72 years-of-age, fans and critics around the world feared for the demise of Picasso's great rival. They were wrong.

 

Matisse called the last fourteen years of his life, 'Une second vie', a second life. A period of extraordinary creativity and invention, it was marked by his colourful and pioneering paper cut outs (gouaches découpés), which rank among his most admired and influential work.

 

This book, by art critic and broadcaster Alastair Sooke, is a perfect introduction to the artist and his work. With a special focus on his later period, when he produced masterpieces such as The Snail and the Blue Nudes, it is a journey through the life of one of the most important and beloved artists of the twentieth century.