Fauvism

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 Use ctrl-F (PC) or command-F (Mac) to search for a name

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'aprs-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.

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

Henri 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.

Henri 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.

Henri 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.

Henri 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.

Henri 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.

Henri 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.

Henri 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.

Henri 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.

Henri Matisse, Boy with Butterfly Net, 1907, oil on canvas, Minneapolis Institute of Arts.

Henri 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.

Henri 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.

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

Henri Matisse, The Algerian Woman, spring 1909, oil on canvas, 81 x 65 cm, Georges Pompidou Center, Paris.

Henri 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 Dance 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.

Henri 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.

Henri 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.

Henri 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)

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

Albert 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.

Maurice 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.

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

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

Kees 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.

Raoul 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.

Andr 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.

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

Andr 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.

Andr Derain, Henri Matisse, 1905, oil on canvas, 46.0 x 34.9 cm, Tate Gallery, London.

Andr 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.

Andr 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.

Andr 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.

Andr 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.

Andr Derain, The Pool of London, 1906, oil on canvas, 65.7 x 99.1 cm, Tate Gallery, London.

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

Andr Derain, L'Estaque (Paysage 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.

Andr 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.

Andr 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.

Andr 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.

Georges 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.

Georges 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.

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

Sonia Delaunay (French, born in Russia as Sarah 1979), Finnish Girl, 1907, oil on canvas, 80 x 64 Center, Paris.

Sophie Stern Terk, 1885cm, Georges Pompidou

(American, 1937-1966), Music Lesson, 1962, oil on was not one of the original Fauves, but he was them. See African American art, music, and

Bob Thomps on canvas. Bob Thompson greatly influenced by Neoclassicism.

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

WebMuseum on Fauvism provides an introduction and links to fauvist works. The Fauves Page is dedicated to Fauvism.