FFauvism - An early twentieth century art movement and style of painting in France. The name Fauves, French for "Wild Beasts," was given to artists adhering to this style because it was felt that they used intense colors in a violent, uncontrolled way. The leader of the Fauves was Henri Matisse (French, 1869-1954).

(pr. fo'vizm)

 


Examples of Fauvist paintings:

Listed chronologically by artist's birth year

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Alfred Maurer (American, 1868-1932), Landscape, 1906, oil and egg white on canvas, 25 x 31 inches, Norton Museum, West Palm Beach, FL. In the 1890s Maurer established contacts with members of the Paris avant-garde. In the first decade of the 20th century, the style of his work moved from Impressionism to Fauvism — the greatest influence having come from Henri Matisse. Egg is an ingredient in egg tempera.

 

 

Henri Matisse (French, 1869-1954), A Glimpse of Notre Dame in the Late Afternoon (Notre-Dame, une fin d'après-midi),1902, oil on paper mounted on canvas, 28 1/2 x 21 1/2 inches (72.5 x 54.5 cm), Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY.

 

 

 

see thumbnail to rightHenri Matisse, Study for Luxe, Calme et Volupté, 1904, oil on canvas, 12 7/8 x 16 inches (32.8 x 40.6 cm), Museum of Modern Art, NY.

 

 

 

see thumbnail to leftHenri Matisse, Landscape at Collioure, 1905, oil on canvas, 15 1/4 x 18 3/8 inches (38.8 x 46.6 cm), Museum of Modern Art, NY.

 

 

 

 

see thumbnail to rightHenri Matisse, La Japonaise: Woman beside the Water, Collioure, summer 1905, oil and pencil on canvas, 13 7/8 x 11 1/8 inches (35.2 x 28.2 cm), Museum of Modern Art, NY.

 

 

 

see thumbnail to leftHenri Matisse, Nude in a Wood (Study), 1905, oil on canvas, 16 x 13 inches, Brooklyn Museum of Art, NY. This is one of several Matisse paintings exhibited in the very influential Armory Show of 1913.

 

 

 

see thumbnail to rightHenri Matisse, Green Stripe (Madame Matisse), 1905, oil and tempera on canvas, 15 7/8 x 12 7/8 inches (40.5 x 32.5 cm), Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Copenhagen.

 

 

 

see thumbnail to leftHenri Matisse, The Joy of Life (Le Joie de vivre), 1905-06, oil on canvas, 69 1/8 x 94 7/8 inches (175 x 241 cm), Barnes Foundation, Merion, PA.

 

 

 

see thumbnail to rightHenri Matisse, Promenade among the Olive Trees, 1906, oil on canvas, 17 1/2 x 21 3/4 inches (44.5 x 55.2 cm), Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY.

 

 

 

 

 

see thumbnail to leftHenri Matisse, The Young Sailor, II (Jeune Marin), 1906, oil on canvas, 39 3/8 x 31 7/8 inches, Gelman collection, Mexico City. This is one of several Matisse paintings exhibited in the very influential Armory Show of 1913.

 

 

 

see thumbnail to rightHenri Matisse, The Blue Nude (Souvenir de Biskra), 1907, oil on canvas, 36 1/4 x 55 1/8 inches, Baltimore Museum of Art, MD. This too appeared in the Armory Show of 1913.

 

 

see thumbnail to leftHenri Matisse, Boy with Butterfly Net, 1907, oil on canvas, Minneapolis Institute of Arts.

 

 

 

see thumbnail to rightHenri Matisse, The Red Madras Headress (Mme Matisse: Madras Rouge), summer 1907, oil on canvas, 39 1/8 x 31 3/4 inches (99.4 x 80.5 cm), Barnes Foundation, Merion, PA. This too appeared in the Armory Show of 1913.

 

 

 

see thumbnail to leftHenri Matisse, Music (Sketch) (La Musique [esquisse]), June-July 1907, oil and charcoal on canvas, 29 x 24 inches (73.4 x 60.8 cm), Museum of Modern Art, NY. See music.

 

 

see thumbnail to rightHenri Matisse, Three Bathers, 1907, oil on canvas, 23 3/4 x 28 3/4 inches, Minneapolis Institute of Arts.

 

 

 

see thumbnail to leftHenri Matisse, The Algerian Woman, spring 1909, oil on canvas, 81 x 65 cm, Georges Pompidou Center, Paris.

 

 

 

see thumbnail to rightHenri Matisse, Dance (first version), 1909, oil on canvas, 8 feet 6 1/2 inches x 12 feet 9 1/2 inches (259.7 x 390.1 cm), Museum of Modern Art, NY. Matisse painted a second version of see thumbnail to leftDance in 1910, oil on canvas, 102 x 154 inches (260 x 391 cm), Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia. Dance, together with Music, was commissioned by S.I.Shchukin to decorate the staircase in his Moscow mansion. Matisse took the motif of the round dance, used as a symbol back as far as French Renaissance, to represent the rhythm and expression of the 20th century. The spaciousness and expressive lines emphasize the dynamics of the figures. Simplified and schematic forms intensify the brightness and resonance of the three colors — red, blue and green. Dance, Matisse once said, meant "life and rhythm." See circle, music, and rhythm.

 

 

 

see thumbnail to rightHenri Matisse, The Red Studio (L'Atelier rouge; Le panneau rouge), 1911, oil on canvas, 71 1/4 inches x 7 feet 2 1/4 inches (181 x 219.1 cm), Museum of Modern Art, NY. See studio.

 

 

 

see thumbnail to leftHenri Matisse, Still Life with Aubergines [Nature morte aux aubergines], Collioure, summer 1911, oil on canvas, 45 3/4 x 35 1/8 inches (116.2 x 89.2 cm), Museum of Modern Art, NY.

 

 

 

see thumbnail to rightHenri Matisse, Moroccan Garden (Les Pervenches / Jardin marocain), 1912, oil, pencil, and charcoal on canvas, 46 x 32 1/4 inches (116.8 x 82.5 cm), Museum of Modern Art, NY.

 

 

Henri Matisse, The Riffian (Le Rifain assis), late 1912 or early 1913, oil on canvas, 78 3/4 x 63 inches (200 x 160 cm), Barnes Foundation, Merion, PA. The model is a Moroccan man.

 

 

 

Louis Valtat (French, 1869-1952)

 

 

 

see thumbnail to rightAlbert Marquet (French, 1875-1947), Fishing Boats (Barques des Pecheurs), about 1906, oil on canvas, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, NH.

 

 

 

see thumbnail to leftAlbert Marquet, Bay of Naples, 1908, ?1930s, oil on canvas, 64.8 x 77.5 cm, Tate Gallery, London. The Tate is not clear whether this painting was made during Marquet's fauvist period — giving its date as "1908, ?1930s" — but the colors are so naturalistic that it seems unlikely. For a while the boldness of his colors matched those of his friend, Henri Matisse. Regardless, these colors are comparable to those in Derain's Houses of Parliament from the middle of that painter's fauvist period.

 

 

 

see thumbnail to rightMaurice de Vlaminck (French, 1876-1958), Autumn Landscape, c. 1905, oil on canvas, 18 1/4 x 21 3/4 inches (46.2 x 55.2 cm), Museum of Modern Art, NY.

 

 

see thumbnail to leftMaurice de Vlaminck (French, 1876-1958), The Blue House, 1906, oil on canvas, 21 1/2 x 25 1/2 inches, Minneapolis Institute of Arts.

 

 

 

see thumbnail to rightKees Van Dongen (French, born Holland, 1877-1968), Trinidad Fernandez, 1907, oil on canvas, 82 cm x 100 cm, Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art, Iran.

 

 

 

see thumbnail to leftKees van Dongen, Modjesko, Soprano Singer, 1908, oil on canvas, 39 3/8 x 32 inches (100 x 81.3 cm), Museum of Modern Art, NY.

 

 

 

see thumbnail to rightRaoul Dufy (French, 1877-1953), Sailboat at Sainte-Adresse, 1912, oil on canvas, 34 7/8 x 45 5/8 inches (88.6 x 115.9 cm), Museum of Modern Art, NY.

 

 

 

see thumbnail to leftAndré Derain (French, 1880-1954), Poplars, c. 1900, oil on canvas, 16 1/4 x 12 7/8 inches (41.3 x 32.7 cm), Museum of Modern Art, NY.

 

 

 

see thumbnail to rightAndré Derain, Composition (L'Age d'Or), 1903-1905, oil on canvas, 177 cm x 189 cm, Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art, Iran.

 

 

see thumbnail to leftAndré Derain, Fishing Boats, Collioure, 1905, oil on canvas, 15 1/8 x 18 1/4 inches (38.2 x 46.3 cm), Museum of Modern Art, NY.

 

 

 

see thumbnail to rightAndré Derain, Henri Matisse, 1905, oil on canvas, 46.0 x 34.9 cm, Tate Gallery, London.

 

 

see thumbnail to leftAndré Derain, Houses of Parliament at Night, 1905-1906, oil on canvas, 31 x 39 inches (78.7 x 99.1 cm), Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY. Compare this to Marquet's Bay of Naples above.

 

 

 

see thumbnail to rightAndré Derain, Bacchic Dance, 1906, watercolor and pencil on paper, sheet: 19 1/2 x 25 1/2 inches (49.5 x 64.8cm), frame: 29 1/2 x 34 inches (74.9 x 86.4 cm), Museum of Modern Art, NY.

 

 

 

see thumbnail to leftAndré Derain, Bridge over the Riou, 1906, oil on canvas, 32 1/2 x 40 inches (82.6 x 101.6 cm), Museum of Modern Art, NY.

 

 

see thumbnail to rightAndré Derain, London: St. Paul's Cathedral seen from the Thames, 1906, oil on canvas, 39 1/4 x 32 1/4 inches, Minneapolis Institute of Arts.

 

 

see thumbnail to leftAndré Derain, The Pool of London, 1906, oil on canvas, 65.7 x 99.1 cm, Tate Gallery, London.

 

 

see thumbnail to rightAndré Derain, London Bridge, 1906, oil on canvas, 26 x 39 inches (66 x 99.1 cm), Museum of Modern Art, NY.

 

 

see thumbnail to leftAndré Derain, L'Estaque (Paysage à l'Estaque), 1906, oil on canvas, 13 7/8 x 17 3/4 inches (35.3 x 45.1 cm), Museum of Modern Art, NY.

 

 

 

see thumbnail to rightAndré Derain, Bathers, 1907, oil on canvas, 52 inches x 6 feet 4 3/4 inches (132.1 x 195 cm), Museum of Modern Art, NY.

 

 

 

see thumbnail to leftAndré Derain, Madame Derain in Green (Portrait de Madame Derain), 1907, oil on canvas, 28 3/4 x 23 5/8 inches (73 x 60 cm), Museum of Modern Art, NY.

 

 

see thumbnail to rightAndré Derain, The Bagpiper at Carnier, 1910-1911, oil on canvas, 74 x 59 inches, Minneapolis Institute of Arts. Derain's interests had shifted away from the Fauvist aesthetic by 1910 to content evoking memories of such Old Masters as Titian and Claude Lorrain.

 

 

 

see thumbnail to leftGeorges Braque (French, 1882-1963), Le Port d'Anvers (The Port at Antwerp), 1906, oil on canvas, 19 5/8 x 24 inches, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa. Although more known as a pioneer of Cubism, Braque was exploring the Fauves' nonnaturalistic uses of color during the period that he and Picasso were making the first experiments in Cubism — 1906-1910.

 

 

see thumbnail to rightGeorges Braque (French, 1882-1963), Le Viaduct de L'Estaque, 1907, oil on canvas, 25 5/8 x 31 3/4 inches, Minneapolis Institute of Arts.

 

 

Georges Braque, Terrace of Hotel Mistral, L'Estaque [and Paris], autumn 1907, oil on canvas, 31 1/2 x 24 inches (80 x 61 cm), private collection, NY.

 

 

 

see thumbnail to leftGeorges Braque, Viaduct at L'Estaque, Paris, early 1908, oil on canvas, 28 5/8 x 23 1/4 inches (72.5 x 59 cm), Musée National d'Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris.

 

 

Sonia Delaunay (French, born in Russia as Sarah Sophie Stern Terk, 1885-1979), Finnish Girl, 1907, oil on canvas, 80 x 64 cm, Georges Pompidou Center, Paris.

 

 

 

see thumbnail to rightBob Thompson (American, 1937-1966), Music Lesson, 1962, oil on canvas. Bob Thompson was not one of the original Fauves, but he was greatly influenced by them. See African American art, music, and Neoclassicism.

 

 

see thumbnail to leftBob Thompson, Homage to Nina Simone, 1965, oil on canvas, 48 x 72 inches, Minneapolis Institute of Arts.

 

 

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