Matisse and the Fauves

With intensely vibrant colors and a pastose application of paint, a group of 12 young artists—including Henri Matisse, André Derain, Maurice de Vlaminck, Georges Braque, Kees van Dongen, and others—caused a major controversy at the 1905 third autumn salon in Paris. The critic Louis Vauxcelles labeled them les Fauves or “the wild beasts;” now the French translation of the term stands for a style that was short but highly influential in 20th-century art: fauvism. This catalog highlights important aspects from the influence of van Gogh, Cézanne, and Gauguin as artistic trailblazers to the later effects of the Fauves.