Art

Andre Derain’s Intoxication with Color

“We were always intoxicated with color, with words that speak of color, and with the sun that makes colors live.” – André Derain

A cofounder of Fauvism, French artist André Derain (1880 – 1954) developed his early style in association with friends Maurice de Vlaminck and Henri Matisse. Derain’s Fauve paintings, like The Red Sails, translate every tone of a landscape into pure color, applied with short, forceful brushstrokes.

Derain’s involvement in the Fauvist movement, like the movement itself, was short lived. By 1907 he began to shift away from the brilliant Fauvist palette to more muted tones, showing the influence of Cubism and Paul Cézanne. He experimented with several of the new approaches to art which arose in the early 20th century, but by the end of WWI showed a marked return to classicism, and the one time co-founder of “The Wild Beasts” earned new respect and admiration for upholding tradition. He began producing book illustrations and set designs, notably for Sergey Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes.

View our gallery of André Derain’s innovative art.