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Wild Beasts and Colors

In the early 20th century, art underwent momentous changes. Artists became increasingly interested in non-naturalistic representation, departing from the traditional use of form and color. From 1904, the Fauve artists, including Henri Matisse (1869-1954), André Derain (1880-1954), Raoul Dufy (1877-1953), Henri Manguin (1874-1949), Maurice Vlaminck (1876-1958) and Georges Braque (1882-1963), begin to portray familiar objects with “unfamiliar” colors. The French term “fauvism” refers to “wild beasts.” However, a better name for the group might be “the artists of pure color.” Fauvism is the first modern movement in which color rules supreme. Why and how did these artists depart from naturalistic colors?

According to Matisse, “Fauve art isn’t everything, but it is the foundation of everything.” However, contemporary spectators did not always understand Matisse’s aims and were outraged by Fauve paintings. Why were they so shocked? Even if the subject matter of the Fauve painting is often traditional (for example, a portrait, a nude, a landscape or an interior), the Fauve colors were something different. The Fauve colors seemed bright and unnatural, even assaulting to the eye. Also, the fragmented way that they were applied — in larger and smaller blocks — made the pictures seem sketchy, clumsy and unfinished to their contemporary audience. The spectator identifies the form to be “right” and the color to be “wrong.” In traditional art, both form and color are “right” or representational. The artist starts with form and the form determines the color. Color follows form; the artist cannot start with color. The traditional artist cannot use color alone as a means of expression.

Matisse’s expressive use liberated color, so that it is no longer determined by form. His color looks for a sensation that represents his subjective vision and state of mind. Therefore, it could be unnatural or non-representational. For the spectator, Matisse’s form may seem right but his color may seem wrong, because it is not used to convey likeness, but rather sensation. As Matisse put it, “When I put a green, it is not grass. When I put a blue, it is not the sky.” Even today, the spectator of Matisse’s work senses the intensity achieved by color. Does the afternoon sun in Matisse’s Boats in the Port of Collioure (above) look bright to you? Which of the colors are right? Which are wrong? The shore should not be red. Nor the sea green. Using his intuition, Matisse created the effect of a spring sky with complicated color combinations and luminance.