0:00:06 > 0:00:08In January 1941,
0:00:08 > 0:00:11just months after the Nazis had descended on Paris,
0:00:11 > 0:00:13their invading army spreading out
0:00:13 > 0:00:16and infecting the rest of Europe like a deadly virus, an elderly
0:00:16 > 0:00:21man lay on a hospital bed, fighting his own private battle for survival.
0:00:23 > 0:00:26Henri Matisse had just undergone an emergency operation
0:00:26 > 0:00:30for intestinal cancer, which had threatened to wipe him out.
0:00:33 > 0:00:36But against all the odds, he pulled through...
0:00:42 > 0:00:45..and from this near-fatal event became one of the greatest
0:00:45 > 0:00:49rebirths in the history of 20th-century modern art, which
0:00:49 > 0:00:54saw Matisse go on to create some of the most joyful, vibrant
0:00:54 > 0:00:56and life-affirming images, that have yet to be
0:00:56 > 0:01:00rivalled for their originality and daring - the cut-outs.
0:01:00 > 0:01:06Matisse was great because he had the audacity of simplicity, always,
0:01:06 > 0:01:10to reduce things to the most simple possible way.
0:01:11 > 0:01:14Really inventive artists are always looking for new
0:01:14 > 0:01:20ways of reading the world and of expressing a new vocabulary,
0:01:20 > 0:01:24and that's essentially what Matisse was doing. You know, what a man!
0:01:24 > 0:01:27Many people would have packed it in and called it a day.
0:01:27 > 0:01:28He was mortally ill.
0:01:28 > 0:01:32He could no longer do what he'd done all his life. Blow me!
0:01:32 > 0:01:33Matisse just invents a new art form.
0:01:35 > 0:01:38Now partly confined to a wheelchair and bed,
0:01:38 > 0:01:42Matisse sought a different means of drawing in colour.
0:01:42 > 0:01:46Scissors replaced a paintbrush and, with the unique skill of a tailor,
0:01:46 > 0:01:49he set about creating his now famous cut-outs.
0:01:49 > 0:01:52For me, Matisse's cut-outs are his strongest works,
0:01:52 > 0:01:55and not just because they're visually attractive,
0:01:55 > 0:01:57because beneath those explosive colours
0:01:57 > 0:02:00and all that beautiful distillation of form,
0:02:00 > 0:02:04you find these intriguing snatches of Matisse, the man.
0:02:06 > 0:02:10In fact, I'd argue that for all their abstraction, his cut-outs
0:02:10 > 0:02:14are among the most revealing works of art that Matisse ever made.
0:02:29 > 0:02:32Today, Matisse is one of the most celebrated and popular
0:02:32 > 0:02:37artists of the 20th century and any show of his will draw a crowd.
0:02:37 > 0:02:39Even during his own lifetime,
0:02:39 > 0:02:43he enjoyed a level of popularity envied by other artists.
0:02:43 > 0:02:45He was celebrated as a master draughtsman
0:02:45 > 0:02:49and a painter of decorative and highly coloured works,
0:02:49 > 0:02:52some shockingly daring with their almost primitive, simplified
0:02:52 > 0:02:57forms, others more conventionally appealing with their languorous,
0:02:57 > 0:03:00seductive-looking creatures set in exotic harems.
0:03:04 > 0:03:08Today, though, it is cut-outs from the final decade of his life
0:03:08 > 0:03:11that capture the public's imagination.
0:03:11 > 0:03:12But it wasn't always like that.
0:03:12 > 0:03:15When Matisse started producing these groundbreaking works of art,
0:03:15 > 0:03:18many thought that they were just the outpourings of a senile old
0:03:18 > 0:03:21man who'd completely lost touch with reality.
0:03:21 > 0:03:23People thought that they were infantile, decorative,
0:03:23 > 0:03:26certainly not to be taken seriously as works of art.
0:03:26 > 0:03:29In fact, there was one particularly vicious critic who called them
0:03:29 > 0:03:30paper jokes.
0:03:33 > 0:03:37Many were never exhibited in his lifetime and it took a full 20
0:03:37 > 0:03:41years after his death for people to start to recognise their importance.
0:03:44 > 0:03:48Someone who did recognise just how groundbreaking these works
0:03:48 > 0:03:53were at the time was Matisse's great friend and friendly rival, Picasso.
0:03:53 > 0:03:56Picasso had understood Matisse long before anybody else.
0:03:56 > 0:03:58When he first arrived in Paris,
0:03:58 > 0:04:01he knew what he was up against the minute he saw Matisse's paintings.
0:04:01 > 0:04:06The same thing - in the 1940s, Picasso would arrive regularly.
0:04:06 > 0:04:10"I know what he wants," Matisse said. "He wants to see my cut-outs."
0:04:10 > 0:04:13Because nobody had ever done anything like that.
0:04:13 > 0:04:17I think Matisse was working ahead of his time for most of his career.
0:04:19 > 0:04:25The late cut-outs established a new language for art that artists
0:04:25 > 0:04:32subsequently have been working hard to digest.
0:04:32 > 0:04:34of Matisse's cut-outs to date
0:04:34 > 0:04:37in what's bound to be a blockbuster show.
0:04:37 > 0:04:41And Nicholas Serota has taken the unusual step of curating.
0:04:41 > 0:04:44I sometimes feel like you're characterised as quite
0:04:44 > 0:04:45reserved in the press,
0:04:45 > 0:04:49but I can sense that you feel passionately about these cut-outs.
0:04:49 > 0:04:53I think they are amongst the most emotionally moving works
0:04:53 > 0:04:55made in the second half of the 20th century.
0:04:55 > 0:04:59And I'm characterised as only being interested in minimal art,
0:04:59 > 0:05:03but Matisse has always been very, very close to my heart.
0:05:03 > 0:05:07And I've wanted to do this show for 30 years.
0:05:07 > 0:05:09And the Tate owns The Snail.
0:05:09 > 0:05:12It's one of the great works of the final phase.
0:05:12 > 0:05:19And so, to build on that and to make a show that we'll never see again...
0:05:19 > 0:05:21I mean, we say that about exhibitions, but I don't think
0:05:21 > 0:05:25anyone will ever get together this number of cut-outs again.
0:05:32 > 0:05:34In London's Victoria and Albert Museum
0:05:34 > 0:05:37lies a work that opened what's arguably
0:05:37 > 0:05:40the most revealing chapter in Matisse's life and career.
0:05:43 > 0:05:50This is a very beautiful, precious object and it's called Jazz.
0:05:50 > 0:05:52And it's a limited edition book.
0:05:52 > 0:05:53It was published in 1947
0:05:53 > 0:05:58and it contains 20 reproductions of some of the earliest paper
0:05:58 > 0:06:01cut-outs that Matisse began producing after his operation.
0:06:02 > 0:06:08The thing that strikes me is the extraordinary vibrancy,
0:06:08 > 0:06:10this kind of fierce colour.
0:06:10 > 0:06:15And in a way, that reminds me of pop art, that boldness of form,
0:06:15 > 0:06:18the simplicity, the graphicness of these images.
0:06:18 > 0:06:22And yet, this book predates that whole pop art movement by well
0:06:22 > 0:06:25over a decade, so Matisse is ahead of his time.
0:06:25 > 0:06:29He's creating something that feels simple. It's joyous. It's childlike.
0:06:31 > 0:06:36At the same time, there's a whole different strand,
0:06:36 > 0:06:39a different note, if you like, the note of something slightly dark.
0:06:39 > 0:06:41And it's important to remember that
0:06:41 > 0:06:42when you're flicking through the book
0:06:42 > 0:06:46because the context of this creation was this exceptionally
0:06:46 > 0:06:51difficult period in the '40s when Matisse came through this operation,
0:06:51 > 0:06:55which almost killed him, and when the Second World War was raging.
0:06:59 > 0:07:03And you see these odd notes of that hinterland.
0:07:03 > 0:07:05So for instance, here,
0:07:05 > 0:07:08this is a very famous image of the mythical character Icarus,
0:07:08 > 0:07:11who's flown too close to the sun and is suddenly plunging down,
0:07:11 > 0:07:13falling from the skies.
0:07:13 > 0:07:17And he's against this blue sky with these yellow stars.
0:07:17 > 0:07:19But the yellow stars could be something else.
0:07:19 > 0:07:23In the context of the war, these could be exploding shells.
0:07:23 > 0:07:25These are fire bursts.
0:07:25 > 0:07:30And this black shape, silhouetted against the sky, could be a corpse.
0:07:32 > 0:07:35You can almost feel that Matisse is trying to articulate
0:07:35 > 0:07:38something of his own near-death experience.
0:07:42 > 0:07:47And yet, the overall effect of the book is clearly one of joy.
0:07:47 > 0:07:48It's one of rejuvenation.
0:07:48 > 0:07:51This is a second life, an afterlife, for Matisse.
0:07:51 > 0:07:54You can feel his relief at this reprieve from death
0:07:54 > 0:07:57following his life-threatening operation.
0:07:57 > 0:08:04And out of these pages come tumbling clowns. You find acrobats...
0:08:07 > 0:08:13..jugglers, high-wire walkers, trapeze artists.
0:08:16 > 0:08:20There's a sword swallower and you see a knife thrower.
0:08:21 > 0:08:25And I can't help feeling that all of these mesmerising
0:08:25 > 0:08:28and skilled performers actually represent, in a sense,
0:08:28 > 0:08:32Matisse himself because he often said that
0:08:32 > 0:08:35when he was making art, he felt like an acrobat or a juggler.
0:08:35 > 0:08:39And what you see here is his articulation of that creative
0:08:39 > 0:08:40process.
0:08:40 > 0:08:44He's talking about that meditative state of intensity
0:08:44 > 0:08:46and concentration that was required for him
0:08:46 > 0:08:49to be able to perform this dextrous, quick,
0:08:49 > 0:08:51spontaneous scissor work, which is
0:08:51 > 0:08:55comparable to the same state of mind that a knife thrower needs to
0:08:55 > 0:08:58be in just before executing that pin-sharp act.
0:09:04 > 0:09:08Matisse's new method of working was to cut straight into large
0:09:08 > 0:09:11pieces of coloured paper that were then pinned to the
0:09:11 > 0:09:14walls of his studio by his assistants.
0:09:14 > 0:09:17One of these was Jacqueline Duheme, who was just 21
0:09:17 > 0:09:20when she came to work for Matisse in 1948.
0:09:29 > 0:09:32Now in her late 80s, she's still working as a children's book
0:09:32 > 0:09:36illustrator and has vivid memories of her time spent with Matisse.
0:10:13 > 0:10:16Jacqueline was lucky enough to start working with
0:10:16 > 0:10:18Matisse at a crucial turning point in his career.
0:10:20 > 0:10:22The very important thing to say is that
0:10:22 > 0:10:26although the cut-outs began, in part, while he was ill,
0:10:26 > 0:10:29and he worked on Jazz as he was recuperating from operation,
0:10:29 > 0:10:33he actually chose to leave painting behind. He could still paint.
0:10:33 > 0:10:36The final paintings from around 1948 are incredible.
0:10:36 > 0:10:40However, he chooses to focus exclusively on the cut-outs
0:10:40 > 0:10:42and to really think, you know, what the potential of this medium is.
0:10:42 > 0:10:47So for him, this was an all-enveloping passion, I think.
0:10:47 > 0:10:51He began to use these shapes initially as a means
0:10:51 > 0:10:55of constructing paintings, but they then gained an independent life.
0:10:55 > 0:10:57I think he began to see a potential in them
0:10:57 > 0:11:00that no-one else had ever seen.
0:11:00 > 0:11:03And so, he then began to work on a larger scale.
0:11:03 > 0:11:06Of course, because he was infirm, it gave him the opportunity to make
0:11:06 > 0:11:11works on a much grander scale than he could have achieved as a painter.
0:11:11 > 0:11:15He covered the whole wall with cut-outs. Brilliant, pure colour.
0:11:15 > 0:11:19I mean, extraordinary intensity. And people just said it's like...
0:11:19 > 0:11:24Again and again, his visitors described the whole place inside
0:11:24 > 0:11:27as a magician's cave and Matisse, of course, was the magician.
0:11:28 > 0:11:33And Picasso and his companion, Francoise Gilot,
0:11:33 > 0:11:35felt this especially, so much so that one day,
0:11:35 > 0:11:38they brought him a present and it was a real magician.
0:11:38 > 0:11:40They brought him to Matisse's bedside.
0:11:41 > 0:11:45And Matisse, in return, offered to make portraits of both of them,
0:11:45 > 0:11:46right there, on the spot.
0:11:48 > 0:11:52Matisse was in his bed, with large scissors.
0:11:52 > 0:11:54I couldn't believe the scissors were that large.
0:11:54 > 0:12:00And with a great skill, he would do whatever shape he wanted.
0:12:00 > 0:12:02He did that very fast, with dynamism.
0:12:02 > 0:12:07He just went in a very spontaneous manner. It was creation itself.
0:12:07 > 0:12:13He had reached a moment in his life when he was at one in his mind
0:12:13 > 0:12:15and his body, so it was...
0:12:15 > 0:12:18That's why he could be, at last, spontaneous, I think.
0:12:26 > 0:12:29At the time Matisse began working on his cut-outs,
0:12:29 > 0:12:33he was living in this villa in the hillside town of Vence.
0:12:33 > 0:12:37He'd moved here in 1943 to escape the Allied bombings of Nice
0:12:37 > 0:12:40and to recuperate from his painful operation that had left him
0:12:40 > 0:12:43bedbound, except for brief bursts of energy which allowed him
0:12:43 > 0:12:47to venture outside and seek inspiration for his work.
0:12:51 > 0:12:53Matisse loved living here, at the Villa Le Reve.
0:12:53 > 0:12:56He particularly relished wandering about in these beautiful
0:12:56 > 0:12:59gardens and he found almost spiritual
0:12:59 > 0:13:02significance in sketching the flowers and the trees.
0:13:02 > 0:13:04And coming here, you can
0:13:04 > 0:13:09sense why he felt that studying nature was almost a form of prayer.
0:13:11 > 0:13:16Villa Le Reve provided a much-needed oasis of calm for Matisse who,
0:13:16 > 0:13:18by now, required round-the-clock care.
0:14:00 > 0:14:04Despite his ill health, Matisse set about creating his new
0:14:04 > 0:14:08artworks with single-minded determination.
0:14:08 > 0:14:12Matisse couldn't live if he couldn't work, literally. Literally.
0:14:12 > 0:14:16And I think those last years, when he made the cut-outs and when
0:14:16 > 0:14:21he was an invalid, bedridden, were a complete illustration of that.
0:14:21 > 0:14:25He had to invent an artform which he could still practise
0:14:25 > 0:14:29and practise with the intensity and the passion and pour into it
0:14:29 > 0:14:33the energy and power that he had then as he always had had.
0:14:39 > 0:14:45In 1948, Matisse embarked on one of his most ambitious projects -
0:14:45 > 0:14:48the Chapel of the Rosary, just down the road from his villa in Vence.
0:14:50 > 0:14:53Matisse designed and decorated every last detail of the chapel,
0:14:53 > 0:14:56right down to the colourful vestments worn by the priest,
0:14:56 > 0:15:00which were created with his new technique of cut-outs.
0:15:02 > 0:15:05The commission for the chapel came about as a result of a close
0:15:05 > 0:15:08friendship he'd formed with sister Jacques-Marie,
0:15:08 > 0:15:11who'd nursed him after his operation.
0:15:11 > 0:15:15Her convent had no chapel so, to thank her for her care,
0:15:15 > 0:15:16he had one built.
0:15:18 > 0:15:22The chapel was a labour of love for the increasingly frail Matisse,
0:15:22 > 0:15:26but the scale of the operation did little to daunt him.
0:15:26 > 0:15:28As builders set to work on the foundations,
0:15:28 > 0:15:31he set to work designing the ceramic murals with
0:15:31 > 0:15:34the aid of a charcoal-tipped bamboo stick
0:15:34 > 0:15:37and making the full-sized cut-outs that were
0:15:37 > 0:15:41the templates for his monumental stained-glass windows.
0:15:41 > 0:15:44There to assist him was Jacqueline Duheme, who was
0:15:44 > 0:15:48expected to keep up with the furious pace at which Matisse worked.
0:16:23 > 0:16:27Completing his chapel required a monumental effort on Matisse's
0:16:27 > 0:16:29part, but all the hard work that he
0:16:29 > 0:16:32and his assistants put into it paid off spectacularly.
0:16:36 > 0:16:39Matisse was really proud of this chapel.
0:16:39 > 0:16:41In fact, he considered it his masterpiece.
0:16:41 > 0:16:47And when you come inside, I really feel that you can sense why at once.
0:16:47 > 0:16:52I find this a profoundly moving, quite magical space, and the reason
0:16:52 > 0:16:57for that is because Matisse is doing something where it feels effortless.
0:16:58 > 0:17:01And he's done that with very few elements.
0:17:01 > 0:17:04Stained-glass windows along the nave,
0:17:04 > 0:17:07just using three colours,
0:17:07 > 0:17:11and these bounce off these very pared-down graphic, linear,
0:17:11 > 0:17:15ceramic black-and-white murals along the other side of the chapel.
0:17:15 > 0:17:19St Dominic, the Virgin with the Christ Child,
0:17:19 > 0:17:24and at the far end of the chapel, the stations of the cross -
0:17:24 > 0:17:30a tragic, violent subject matter, not at all typical of Matisse.
0:17:30 > 0:17:34And he spoke of an effect that you have in this chapel, which is
0:17:34 > 0:17:39harnessing light, using it like he'd previously used paint.
0:17:39 > 0:17:41And you find these thick,
0:17:41 > 0:17:45glowing lozenges of light as the sunlight streams through
0:17:45 > 0:17:48and casts patterns in different light all over the white
0:17:48 > 0:17:51marble floor, which is part of the piece.
0:18:02 > 0:18:03Do you know,
0:18:03 > 0:18:06I think, in a funny way, he loved working with the Church
0:18:06 > 0:18:11because the Catholic Church has always dealt in extremes,
0:18:11 > 0:18:13and these were people totally at home with
0:18:13 > 0:18:18the language of penance, of submission, of sacrifice.
0:18:18 > 0:18:20But Matisse was a complete atheist.
0:18:20 > 0:18:22He never really entertained the possibility of God.
0:18:22 > 0:18:24He had shed that very early on.
0:18:24 > 0:18:27God, in the conventional sense, nonsensical to him.
0:18:27 > 0:18:32But he understood that attitude of giving absolutely everything.
0:18:35 > 0:18:39When he was pressed about his belief, Matisse answered,
0:18:39 > 0:18:41"Do I believe in God?
0:18:41 > 0:18:43"Yes, when I work."
0:18:43 > 0:18:47And I feel that that's what this chapel conveys - a sense of
0:18:47 > 0:18:54this healing spiritual power that sustained him in his work.
0:18:54 > 0:18:56And I suspect that's why he was so proud of the chapel,
0:18:56 > 0:19:00because Matisse was a man who suffered.
0:19:00 > 0:19:03He suffered from anxiety and depression.
0:19:03 > 0:19:07And then here, he managed to create, at long last,
0:19:07 > 0:19:11towards the end of his life, a haven of peace.
0:19:15 > 0:19:22Anyone walking into that space who doesn't feel great emotion
0:19:22 > 0:19:23is incapable of feeling.
0:19:24 > 0:19:30It has to be one of the great works made anywhere, at any time.
0:19:30 > 0:19:32The Sistine ceiling, Vence Chapel -
0:19:32 > 0:19:34I wouldn't want to choose between the two.
0:19:37 > 0:19:41But though today, many consider the chapel his masterpiece,
0:19:41 > 0:19:44when it was finally consecrated in 1951, the nuns,
0:19:44 > 0:19:48for whom it had been built, weren't totally convinced.
0:20:28 > 0:20:31The model for the Virgin Mary was Jacqueline Duheme.
0:21:03 > 0:21:07Though Matisse was clearly attracted by the piety of the church,
0:21:07 > 0:21:11the siren call of the female form would prove irresistible.
0:21:11 > 0:21:16In the early '50s, Matisse embarked on a series of vibrant works that
0:21:16 > 0:21:21combined his love of the female form with his love of dancing figures.
0:21:21 > 0:21:23And from this particularly productive period
0:21:23 > 0:21:28came his four Blue Nudes, which are now some of his most famous works.
0:21:29 > 0:21:32This is the one that he worked on first.
0:21:32 > 0:21:34Of the four nudes, this is my favourite
0:21:34 > 0:21:39because you can see how much effort went into creating this image.
0:21:39 > 0:21:42It's very clear that he's deciding to change things.
0:21:42 > 0:21:46He's cutting out new strips and patches, little bits of paper,
0:21:46 > 0:21:47and layering them up
0:21:47 > 0:21:51so that there's a very tangible presence to the whole figure.
0:21:51 > 0:21:53She feels like almost a piece of sculpture.
0:21:53 > 0:21:58And it took him two weeks of intensive work and effort
0:21:58 > 0:22:01and energy just to finalise her form.
0:22:01 > 0:22:04But once he was pleased with what he created
0:22:04 > 0:22:07and he'd laid the foundations, he could then go on to execute
0:22:07 > 0:22:11the other three nudes in the series in just a matter of hours.
0:22:16 > 0:22:19The Blue Nudes are amongst the most famous images of the second
0:22:19 > 0:22:20half of the 20th century.
0:22:20 > 0:22:25They have an amazing visceral energy.
0:22:27 > 0:22:30And it's not just flat colour.
0:22:30 > 0:22:33It's colour that really comes and grabs you by the throat.
0:22:33 > 0:22:36But is this the secret of why they've become so famous,
0:22:36 > 0:22:37so emblematic?
0:22:37 > 0:22:40I mean, is it to do with the fact that they're remarkably sensuous
0:22:40 > 0:22:45or that they have this promise of some kind of Arcadian idyll?
0:22:45 > 0:22:47What do you think their secret is?
0:22:47 > 0:22:51I think their secret is the economy with which they were made...
0:22:52 > 0:22:56..the sense in which they stand for every potential move of the
0:22:56 > 0:23:02female body, the fact that they were evidently so lovingly made.
0:23:02 > 0:23:06And there's something incredibly sensuous about them.
0:23:27 > 0:23:32figure with renewed vigour in his last few years.
0:23:34 > 0:23:38This is a cut-out called Creole Dancer, and I absolutely love
0:23:38 > 0:23:43it because it just explodes with all of this energy and vitality.
0:23:43 > 0:23:47You can see this central figure, based loosely on an African-American
0:23:47 > 0:23:51dancer called Katherine Dunham, and she's performing before our eyes.
0:23:51 > 0:23:54She's twirling and spiralling off, almost.
0:23:54 > 0:23:57She reminds me of a kind of floral jack-in-the-box,
0:23:57 > 0:23:58shooting up this way.
0:23:58 > 0:24:00And I think I love it all the more
0:24:00 > 0:24:05because it was created by Matisse in 1950, when he was 80 years old.
0:24:05 > 0:24:09I find it astounding that such a frankly old man could create
0:24:09 > 0:24:13something with so much life that throbs with vitality.
0:24:19 > 0:24:23In the final few years, he knows that his time is finite and
0:24:23 > 0:24:27he's racing from one composition, from one commission, to the next.
0:24:27 > 0:24:29And what's incredible is that they become...
0:24:29 > 0:24:31There's an escalation of scale, they become more ambitious,
0:24:31 > 0:24:33he becomes more prolific. It's rather extraordinary.
0:24:37 > 0:24:40Towards the end of his life, Matisse made another push to reach
0:24:40 > 0:24:43the finishing line, creating The Snail.
0:24:48 > 0:24:52This huge work, which measures 3x3 metres,
0:24:52 > 0:24:55has always been a star attraction for the Tate and is currently
0:24:55 > 0:24:59undergoing restoration in time for their big cut-out exhibition.
0:25:04 > 0:25:08The Snail is something around which the Tate literally revolves, but what
0:25:08 > 0:25:12is, I think, extraordinary about it is the fact that it's
0:25:12 > 0:25:16so close to a work made by a child of six.
0:25:18 > 0:25:20It has the freshness, it has the freedom,
0:25:20 > 0:25:25and yet, it was very, very carefully composed.
0:25:25 > 0:25:30So it is a great work of art based on enormous restraint
0:25:30 > 0:25:34but also enormous experience of how colours sit together.
0:25:38 > 0:25:41Looking at The Snail without its protective glass is really
0:25:41 > 0:25:44very special because you get a brilliant sense of its vast
0:25:44 > 0:25:48scale and the tremendous vitality of the work and also these
0:25:48 > 0:25:51scorching bright colours that feel like they're attacking your eyes.
0:25:51 > 0:25:54And it's extraordinary to think that he finished
0:25:54 > 0:25:57this off the year before he died.
0:25:57 > 0:26:00One of his models said he'd been in a hurry all his life,
0:26:00 > 0:26:05and by now, it was really, for him, a race, an endurance course,
0:26:05 > 0:26:07which he was running with death.
0:26:07 > 0:26:10And you sense that here. You feel he's in a rush.
0:26:10 > 0:26:13At times, he's even just tearing straight into the paper.
0:26:13 > 0:26:14He's no longer using scissors.
0:26:14 > 0:26:20You feel that he's working hard to get what he wanted to say out
0:26:20 > 0:26:24because he was so conscious that, for him, time was running out.
0:26:28 > 0:26:31I think you always have to remember he was a mortally ill old man
0:26:31 > 0:26:33when he made these things and he knew it.
0:26:33 > 0:26:36And he always said, "I'm living on borrowed time."
0:26:36 > 0:26:39And he knew that every day could be his last.
0:26:39 > 0:26:43And so every day became absolutely key for him
0:26:43 > 0:26:45and he had to use every second.
0:26:45 > 0:26:47And he did. He did.
0:26:53 > 0:26:57On 3 November 1954, aged 84,
0:26:57 > 0:26:59Matisse died after suffering a heart attack.
0:27:02 > 0:27:07He had lived with extraordinary intensity throughout his life
0:27:07 > 0:27:10and he started to die. And that took him three days.
0:27:10 > 0:27:14Three days for his heart to absolutely actually pack up.
0:27:14 > 0:27:19I think that shows you the tenacity, the strength, of a man who said
0:27:19 > 0:27:22if willpower's not enough, you've got to fall back on pigheadedness.
0:27:22 > 0:27:25He just was tough, Matisse.
0:27:57 > 0:28:01Just ten days after Matisse died, the popular magazine Paris Match
0:28:01 > 0:28:04went to press with a special tribute to the artist.
0:28:04 > 0:28:07The cover had a photograph - it's a wonderful picture
0:28:07 > 0:28:09- of Matisse intently working on his cut-outs
0:28:09 > 0:28:13with a trusted female assistant by his side.
0:28:13 > 0:28:16And the text at the bottom runs, "Just a few weeks before his
0:28:16 > 0:28:21"death, this master of contemporary painting is working on his cut-outs.
0:28:21 > 0:28:26"He is 84 years old and this is the last expression of his art."
0:28:26 > 0:28:28But I wonder how much Matisse himself
0:28:28 > 0:28:32considered his cut-outs his final artistic statement, because for
0:28:32 > 0:28:36Matisse, by the end, art and life had become inextricably entwined.
0:28:36 > 0:28:40He was working furiously, right up until the moment of his death.
0:28:40 > 0:28:43And had he lived any longer, there's no doubt, in my mind,
0:28:43 > 0:28:45that his art would have continued to develop in all
0:28:45 > 0:28:50sorts of astonishing and surprising, exciting new directions.
0:28:50 > 0:28:54I have a hunch that Matisse the magician had a few other
0:28:54 > 0:28:56artistic tricks up his sleeve.