I can sum it up for you very quickly, but my answer, although absolutely correct and unbiased, may not be very popular in some circles - Matisse, as well as many other famous painters like for example Chagall, Pollock, McCahon, Nolan, Modigliani etc. simply couldn't paint! Their "paintings" are simply a joke and I can't stop wondering what else all those poor jokers had to do to become famous painters, not being able to paint at all!
So Matisse's influence was that he had shown the art world that basically anybody can become a famous painter, not being able to paint at all! Yes, yes - I can hear the protests from many art "experts" stating that Matisse was the first in history who painted like that etc. etc. What a lot of rubbish - there were hundreds if not thousands or even hundreds of thousands of children who painted like that long before Matisse, but they did not become famous painters simply because in their times (when quality, talent and effort still meant something) nobody would look at a rubbish like that!
Having said that, I have to add that I agree that Matisse was really great and had a lot of talent, but not as a painter - he couldn't paint at all. But... he was really a great marketer - it required a lot of marketing skills, effort and sacrifices to become a famous "artist" pushing and selling rubbish like that! One can only imagine how many rich sponsors he had to find and what he had to do to brainwash them to try to push his "art"!
This is an honest answer for you - just don't argue too much with your teacher in my defence since you may get expelled from your school for views like that. But this is the truth and it's really time the art world realised that, stopped pushing "artists" like Matisse and started appreciating (again!) a true art requiring a lot of talent, effort and quality workmanship. Any child can paint like Matisse or Chagall!
