I cannot copy nature in a servile way; I am forced to interpret nature and submit it to the spirit of the picture. From the relationship I have found in all the tones there must result a living harmony of colors, a harmony analogous to that of a musical composition.
Henri MatisseIt is not enough to place colors, however beautiful, one beside the other; colors must also react on one another. Otherwise, you have cacophony.
Henri MatissePurer colors... have in themselves, independently of the objects they serve to express, a significant action on the feelings of those who look at them.
Henri Matisse