In 1935, Henri Matisse illustrated James Joyce's Ulysses. Matisse signed each of the 1,500 copies of the book, which he himself never read.
Instead of illustrating Joyce's text, Matisse visualized six episodes from Homer's Odyssey (also known as Ulysses). Matisse's 26 works consist of six hand-printed engravings and twenty lithographic drawings made “as a basis for engravings printed on thin colored paper.”
Here we see Ulysses seeing his long-awaited home in Ithaca.
Henri Matisse was a French painter, draughtsman, engraver and sculptor. He was one of the leading European artists of the modernist period. He made his mark on art history with his desire to convey emotions through form and colour. He was one of the founders and leading representatives of Fauvism.