Dutch painter, brother of Jacob (Maris, Jacob) and Willem Maris, noted for his movement away from the Realism of the Hague school toward a more symbolic expression. He was without doubt the most gifted of the brothers.

Maris received a royal subsidy, and from 1861 to 1868 he lived and worked with his elder brother Jacob, on whom his more spiritual and mystical nature had a refining influence. Matthijs himself gradually began to soften the realistic style of his paintings; the contours of objects became more vague, his colours dominated by gray, and his subjects nearer to dream visions than to actual scenes from life. From 1869 to 1875 he worked in Paris, and from 1877 he lived in London, where he remained for the rest of his life. He was influenced by the Pre-Raphaelites (Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood). In addition to painting, Maris made etchings in limited editions and lithographs.