Art: Rainbow's End

Henri Matisse died last week, and the most brilliant fountain of light and color in modern art was sealed.

He died in the quiet of a Riviera late afternoon, in his hotel apartment overlooking Nice. His secretary, his nurse, his doctor and a daughter were with him. For 14 years he had remarkably survived the ravages of intestinal cancer, although doctors, in 1941, had given him only six months to live. But at 84, Matisse's heart finally stopped.

Within hours of his death, the living began to reckon Matisse's achievements. London Critic T. W. Earp...

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