The young Henri Matisse by John Peter Russell, ca. 1888. - In 1887, at the age of 18 he went to Pari

The young Henri Matisse by John Peter Russell, ca. 1888.

- In 1887, at the age of 18 he went to Paris to study law, working as a court administrator in Le Cateau-Cambrésis after gaining his qualification. He first started to paint in 1889, after his mother brought him art supplies to pass the time during a period of convalescence following an attack of appendicitis. He discovered “a kind of paradise” as he later described it, and decided to become an artist, so he leaved the law school deeply dismay his father. He said later: “From the moment I held the box of colors in my hands, I knew this was my life. I threw myself into it like a beast that plunges towards the thing it loves.” Matisse’s mother was the first to advise her son not to adhere to the “rules” of art, but rather listen to his own emotions.