Ever heard of fauvism? How about Vincent Van Gogh, Paul Gauguin, or Henri Matisse? Okay, okay, what about that weird art movement where it’s argued that these master painters were painting masterpieces that a 5 year old could paint? Ohhh, yea that’s it!
Welcome to fauvism, and why it is so much more to it than a messy, haphazard finger painting on a canvas. A group of French painters back in the early 1900s called themselves the Fauves, or ‘wild beasts’, who broke free from the confines of traditional realistic and romantic painting styles and decided to use intense color and form as a way to express the effect light and space had on their emotional state.
Although it was a short-lived movement, it was a game changer in paving the way for artists to have the freedom to use color more expressively and as a representation of emotion instead of reality. The fauves valued their individual expression above all else.
Key Artists in this movement: Henri Matisse, Maurice de Vlaminck, André Derain, Kees van Dongen, Raoul Dufy, Georges Braque
External Resources to learn more:
https://www.theartstory.org/movement/fauvism/
https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/art-1010/early-abstraction/fauvism-matisse/a/a-beginners-guide-to-fauvism
https://www.nga.gov/features/slideshows/the-fauves.html
https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/fauv/hd_fauv.htm
https://artuk.org/discover/artists/derain-andre-18801954
What do you think of the Fauvism movement? Leave a comment and let me know!
Jamie Parks 