Fauvism

Fauvism

Artistic Movements, Periods and Styles in 5 Points

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Fauvism

• In the early years of the 20th century, a group of French painters who were influenced by the color of Post-impressionism received the name of “fauves” or “wild beasts.” They used pure colors, striking provocative contrasts, applied with an energetic, “wild” brushstroke. We can think of the works of Gauguin, or of the pointillists, to name two examples.
• As it was not a strict movement in the sense of being ruled by a manifesto and rigid rules, their ways of expressing through color, their techniques were dissimilar. Many painted with the “divisionism” technique (the one of the impressionists which the pointillists had taken to the extreme): the tones are not mixed in the palette, the colors are placed pure, one next to the other on the canvas and the tone is created in the eye of the observer. Matisse used that technique, influenced by his friend Signac, one of the most renowned pointillists. Although as a good example of the diversity of techniques within the movement we have chosen as an illustration a painting by Matisse (emblematic of Fauvism) which is not painted with the divisionism technique.
• They also worked with the Theory of Color, defining the primary, secondary and tertiary colors and then studied the complementarity among them. By applying this concept to their works, they obtain stronger visual contrast and chromatic strength.
• In this search so focused on color and its expressive capacity, spontaneity is crucial. That is why they leave aside the concern for imitating forms of nature, of achieving the adequate perspectives and “correctly” reflect the effects of lights and shadows.
• Such spontaneity allows them to better transmit their spirit brimming over with enthusiasm, intensity, joy of living (a crucial attitude to bear in mind when differentiating them from the German expressionists).

Representative artists: Matisse, Derain, Van Dongen, Vlaminck, Manguin.

Image: The Joy of Life (1905/06). Henri Matisse

Recommended links:

Fundamental Painters of Fauvism.

Characteristic Elements of Fauvist Painting.

The “Avant-garde” movements.

Timeline: Moments of Henri Matisse.

The Red Room.

Derain and the Wild Color.

The Corn Poppy (1919), Kees van Dongen.

Primitivism in Modernity.

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