Fauvism

Fauvism is the name given to the painting of Henri Matisse, André Derain and other artists in their circle from about 1905 to 1910. The tendency is characterised by a bold, often unnatural use of bright, pure colour, energetic visible brushwork and simplified, almost flat forms. The name comes from the French phrase les fauves, meaning wild beasts: the critic Louis Vauxcelles used it disparagingly when he saw the artists' paintings displayed beside a Renaissance-style sculpture at the 1905 Salon d'Automne in Paris. The Fauves freed colour from its descriptive, imitative function, using it as an autonomous means of expressing emotion and building the composition. Besides Matisse and Derain, the movement included Maurice de Vlaminck, Albert Marquet, Georges Rouault and Raoul Dufy. They were influenced by the Post-Impressionism of Van Gogh and Gauguin and by Divisionism. Fauvism was short-lived as a cohesive group, yet its emphasis on the autonomy of colour was decisive for the development of modern art and directly influenced German Expressionism and the later pursuit of abstraction in the twentieth century.