Collioure - Henri Matisse & André Derain - creators of Fauvist art movement

Collioure & Fauvism art movement


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The Fauvist art movement was created in Collioure on the southern coast of France in 1905. French artists Henri Matisse & André Derain are regarded as the leading figures of the Fauvism style of painting. Fauvism was a style of painting with vivid expressionistic and non-naturalistic use of colour that flourished in Paris from 1905 and, while short-lived, had an profound influence on many artists. The name "les fauves" ('the wild beasts') was coined by the art critic Louis Vauxcelles after seeing the Collioure paintings by Matisse and Derain in Paris in the Salon d'Automne exhibition of 1905. 

Fauvism and Collioure


In the summer of 1905, Henri Matisse (1869–1954) left Paris for the French village of Collioure to seek new inspiration. Collioure is nestled between the Mediterranean Sea and the Pyrenees Mountains close to the Spanish border. The landscape and quiet lifestyle there were very different from Paris. The brilliant light in the south of France, reflected off the sea, captivated Matisse, and after settling with his family in a hotel, he invited his friend, a young painter André Derain (1880–1954), to join him.

Matisse and Derain worked every day, often painting side by side around the village. They sketched boats in the harbor, the fish market, the nearby Pyrenees foothills and each other. Using paints straight from the tube with little mixing of pigments, they applied vibrant, bold and striking colors directly to their canvases. Their collaboration in Collioure led to a new freedom in creating art: the use of color to express the feeling of a place. Matisse and Derain did not paint Collioure as it looked in real life. Instead, the artists conveyed the intensity and energy of Collioure’s blazing sunshine by painting with dazzling colors.

Below: "Open Window, Collioure" by Matisse

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A good example of this it the painting "Open Window, Collioure", which was Matisse’s view of the town port. Seen through the window, small boats bob on pink waves under a sky banded with turquoise, pink, and periwinkle. Vibrant outdoor light pours through the window and onto the flower pots on the sill, colouring the windows mauve, azure, and pink.

Below: "Vue de Collioure" by Derain

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Turning from the sea in Mountains at Collioure, Derain painted the olive groves with the steep hills of the Pyrenees in the background. Derain used a variety of brushstrokes to paint this rugged landscape. Derain’s bold, separated stripes of blues, grays, and greens create a rhythmic pattern of leaves ready to wave in a breeze. Broad, sweeping strokes of color form the mountains rising behind the trees and reaching to the sky.

Matisse particularly enjoyed stays in warmer places during the winter months, and he liked to watch sunlight shimmering on the sea. After his summer with Derain, he returned to Collioure and also vacationed at other seaports on the French coast of the Mediterranean Sea.

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Last Updated on Saturday, 13 July 2024 12:48
 

Sunday, 08 September 2024


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