Henri Matisse was very mediocre in his early periods. He was a late bloomer, learning to paint well into his thirties (Wayne 1). His first painting was Nature morte aux livres (Still Life with Books), his realist style was not his forte (moodbooks.com 1). Soon Matisse began to experiment. Matisse when through many artistic styles in his life, from neo-impressionism to pointillism, put himself in many pies. In 1905 Matisse created Fauvism, or wild beasts. From that moment on his paintings would never be the same. He became the king of color (Cumming 99). In the 1910s Orientalism began. The odalisques had a very different pattern (Abrams/Cameo 28). Fauvism and Orientalism are very different, but still similar in other ways. They can be compared on backgrounds, colors, subjects, structure and style. An important aspect of any artwork is the background. In the Fauvist movement Matisse used different types of backgrounds. In the portrait of Madame Matisse (The Green Line), on the left side the red background makes the red half of her body blend in. On the right side the green background makes the shoulder look more pronounced (Abrams/Cameo 14). In his painting The Woman in the Hat the background is a powerful splash of bright colours. The reds, yellows, greens and purples make the image seem busy and messy. Some of the Fauvist backgrounds had a logical reason. The background in The Young Sailor II is a soft peach color, which matches the dark, muted tones of the sailors' clothing. In the Mediterranean Allegories phase of Fauvism, the backgrounds were more distinguishable. In the Bowling Game the background is a pale green for the grass and a blue for the sky. He had many paintings with this type of background. The focus was less on the expressive color and more on the story behind the painting. For about a year his background became more real and less sentimental. In the same year, Matisse's fauvist again began to look at bright backgrounds. Matisse's painting Harmony in Red (La Desserte) has a bright patterned background. It has the feel of a textile piece, with their flat and repetitive pattern (Abrams/Cameo 21). The background seemed to organize and guide the image, making it as important as the other elements (Abrams/Cameo 21). Other works such as the interiors with the Eggplants have the same quality.