Matisse was born in France and studied at the famous Ecol des Beaux Arts, the French academy for art. Matisse studied with the great Symbolist master Gustav Moreau. From Moreau Matisse learned early the importance and impact of color in a painting. In Matisse's early years he was the leader of the Fauve school in France. "Fauve" translated means "wild beast" and their trademark was bright, wild and often contrasting colors. Along with these bright and often flat blocks or planes of color, Matisse would use strong patterning as a tool. By combining these together, Matisse created a flat 2 -dimensional surface. Matisse essentially abandoned the important Renaissance innovation of perspective. Pablo Picasso, through his creation of Cubism, would do the same. This would be the most definitive break in art history, separating the past and marking the beginning of the modern art movement. Along with Picasso, Matisse is often regarded as one of the most important artists of the 20th century. In 1941 he was diagnosed with cancer and confined to a wheelchair. Unable to stand at an easel, Matisse began another phase in his career: working with cut papers. Using colored paper he cut out shapes and forms and pasted them together forming beautiful and innovative collages. It is from this stage in Matisse's career in which "Icarus" is found. These cut papers and collages are the closest Matisse ever came to abstraction.