ed on the canvas in emphatic isolation. Moreover, he eschews realistic representation of his landscape; while the shrubbery is partly green, there are also complementary shades of blue, disorienting any naturalistic tendencies. Derain likens his “disharmonious” coloration to “sticks of dynamite,” the scene exploding off the canvas toward the viewer instead of providing depth. This is further emphasized through impasto, which involves daubing paint directly from tube to canvas and brushing it in short strokes, evoking motion and texture.
Henri Matisse. Le Bonheur de Vivre, 1905-06. Oil on canvas. 5’ 8.5” x 7’ 9.75”. Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia.
The first Autumn Salon generally received negative reviews, so Matisse reacted with what would become the quintessential work of Fauvism: Le Bonheur de Vivre (1905-06). Matisse reconfigures the conventional pastoral and nude to embrace his innovations. The perspective has been completely flattened, and the bodies and trees are contoured with bold lines in folk-art fashion. Yet the expressive palette remains the most striking element. Critic Gelette Burgess would provide an acerbic description of this coloration during his 1910 review that would become America’s initial introduction to the Parisian avant-garde: “If you can imagine what a particularly sanguinary little girl of eight, half-crazed with gin, would do to a whitewashed wall, if left alone with a box of crayons, then you will come near to fancying what most of this work was like.” Nevertheless, the viewer cannot help but feel overwhelmed by the energy and passion evoked by the bodacious hues and soaring lines.
Maurice de Vlaminck. Autumn Landscape, c. 1905. 18.1” x 21.65”. Museum of Modern Art, New York.
Color was thus the dominant mode of expression, even if it meant abstracting reality to unrecognizability. Maurice de Vlaminck’s Autumn Landscape (c. 1905) does just this with its blazing hues embodying the forefront. Vegetation is reduced to sporadic flames of red, contrasting with a chaotic sea of blues at the top of the canvas. For Vlaminck, Fauvism was more than expression—it was rebellion.
Though the Fauvists turned to other modes soon after, their ideas would live on through the Expressionists and Cubists, offering new standards for entering into an artwork. Tomorrow we’ll see just how these new standards altered the direction modern art would take in the upcoming years.
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