This image is being circulated on social media as the artist Henri Matisse in bed with the flu. That may have been a bending of the truth to reflect the current Covid-19 Crisis, as Matisse who lived from 1869 to 1954 had an operation for stomach cancer later in life that left him confined to bed or a chair. No longer able to stand to paint, he started to draw murals on his walls from his bed, and used that concept to have assistants make cut-outs that had a “distinct and dimensional complexity”.
With the colour, shape and form, those images are instantly recognizable as Matisse’s work today. There’s another message too~in the face of adversity and not being able to do the painting work that had been his passion, Matisse adapted to what he could do and created a new art form.
As Matisse said “There are always flowers for those who want to see them”.
