There are flowers everywhere, for those who bother to look.

The line expresses an aesthetic and ethical stance often associated with Matisse’s art: beauty is not rare or reserved for special places, but is dispersed through ordinary life and becomes visible through attention. “Flowers” functions as a metaphor for small, vivid instances of color, pleasure, or meaning that can be overlooked amid habit or distraction. The phrase “for those who bother to look” emphasizes that perception is an active practice—requiring patience, receptivity, and a willingness to pause. Read this way, the quote aligns with modernist ideas about training the eye and with Matisse’s own pursuit of clarity, joy, and immediacy in visual experience.