An artist must possess Nature. He must identify himself with her rhythm, by efforts that will prepare the mastery which will later enable him to express himself in his own language.

Where Renoir Cézanne Matisse and Picasso's works dominated Leo and Gertrude Stein's collection Sarah Stein's collection particularly emphasized Matisse. Matisse immersed himself in the work of others and went into debt from buying work from painters he admired. The work he hung and displayed in his home included a plaster bust by Rodin a painting by Gauguin a drawing by van Gogh and Cézanne's Three Bathers.

He was a draughtsman printmaker and sculptor but is known primarily as a painter. Matisse is commonly regarded along with Pablo Picasso and Marcel Duchamp as one of the three artists who helped to define the revolutionary developments in the plastic arts in the opening decades of the 20th century responsible for significant developments in painting and sculpture.