Henri-Emile-Benoît Matisse was born on December 31, 1869, in Le Cateau-Cambrésis, France. He grew up at Bohain-en-Vermandois and studied law in Paris from 1887 to 1888. By 1891, he had abandoned law and started to paint. In Paris, Matisse studied art briefly at the Académie Julian and then at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts with Gustave Moreau. In 1901, Matisse exhibited at the Salon des Indépendants in Paris. His first solo show took place at the Galerie Vollard, Paris in 1904. In 1913, his work was included in the Armory Show in New York. In 1918, an exhibition featuring the works of Matisse, as well as Picasso, opened at the Guillaume Gallery. In 1920 Matisse designed the stage sets and costumes for S. Diaghilev's ballet 'The Nightingale' and in 1939 for Léonide Massine's ballet Rouge et Noir. In 1948, he began the design for the decoration of Chapelle du Rosaire at Vence, which was completed and consecrated in 1951. The same year, a major retrospective of his work was presented at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, and then traveled to Cleveland, Chicago, and San Francisco. Further solo exhibitions were held at the Museum of Modern Art, New York (1978-79 and 1984-85), the National Gallery, Washington (1990) and the Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris (1993). Most recently a major 'Matisse/Picasso' exhibition was held at the Tate Gallery, London (2002).