Sense Giving in the Art of Henri Matisse

Abstract

Both in face-to-face interactions and in indirect forms of communication, such as art, we are constantly involved with communicating our definition of reality, something which even holds for the ultimate meaning of life, death and suffering. Several works of Henri Matisse, most notably those in the Chapelle du Rosaire at Vence, shed light on aspects of this process of sense giving. Although grounded in everyday life, Matisse’s art rises to the realm of ultimate meaning, and thus provided him with a means of transcending his own suffering.