Matisse was, with Picasso, one of the two great presiding geniuses of 20th-century western art. Unlike Picasso he has so far evaded any serious attempt to write his life.

The widespread general impression of Matisse as on one hand a somewhat frivolous painter and on the other a rather dull and uninteresting person is long overdue for revision. This stunning and revealing biography closely examines the relationship between his life and his art.