André Derain, 1906, Charing Cross Bridge, London, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, artwork in the Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.
André Derain, the co-founder of Fauvism with Henri Matisse, was born on June 10, 1880 near Paris.
In 1905, Derain and Matisse exhibited their groundbreaking art in the Salon d’Automne when one critic declaired that their boldly-colored work looked like wild beasts (fauves), which is how the art movement came to be known. The simplification and abstraction of landscape scenes as well as the free use of bright color seemed uncultivated to the viewing public, yet found fans in the collectors Gertrude and Leo Stein. Nevertheless, while Derain’s paintings influenced artists for many years, the art movement only lasted from 1904-08.
