Even when he was struck down by illness, Henri Matisse was still able to produce his finest work.

One of the 20th century’s most influential artists, he is primarily remembered as a painter but produced many cut-outs during the last years of his life, when he could only move around in a wheelchair.

A collection of 35 lithographic prints of his cut-outs are going on show. Made during the last four years of his life, the collection includes the Snail and the Blue Nudes. The Frenchman described his technique as “painting with scissors,” using his eye to bring colour and geometry to a simple and playful medium.

He used paper hand-painted with gouache, laid down in abstract or figurative patterns.

The colours he used were so strong that he was advised by his doctor to wear dark glasses.

“There is no gap between my earlier pictures and my cut-outs,” Matisse wrote. “I have only reached a form reduced to the essential through greater absoluteness and greater abstraction.”

The Hayward touring exhibition is called Henri Matisse: Drawing with Scissors. Late Works 1950-1954.

See it at Maidstone Museum in St Faith’s Street, from Saturday, October 20 to Sunday, November 18. Admission free. Call 01622 602838.

Art lovers can try their hand at making their own Matisse-inspired picture at a Big Draw event at the museum. It takes place on Saturday, October 27. Admission free and it is open to all.