André Derain

(French, 1880-1954)

French artist André Derain was born in June 1880 in the Parisian suburb of Chatou Yvelines Île-de-France. Both a painter and a sculptor, Derain is known for his role in co-founding Fauvism with Henri Matisse and Maurice de Vlaminck.

Derain had a middle class upbringing with a traditional education at Saint-Croix in Le Vesinet and then attended the Lycée Chaptal in Paris. He excelled at painting and drawing, and won his first award in 1895. After briefly studying engineering at the École des Mines in Paris, he left the program in 1898 to pursue artistic studies with Father Jacomin, a friend of Cézanne. He then studied in the Parisian studio of Symbolist painter Eugene Carrière, where he met Matisse and Vlaminck.

Military service from September 1901 to 1904 interrupted Derain’s artistic pursuits, but he returned to painting after completing his military obligation and attended the Académie Julian. Fascinated with primitive art, Derain began working with Matisse in the summer of 1905 in the small fishing village of Collioure on the Mediterranean coast. When they exhibited together at the Salon d’Automne, which had been established to encourage experimental artists, their expressive artworks painted featuring bold compositions, simplified form and unnaturally vibrant colors inspired art critic Louis Vauxcelles to refer to them as fauves (“wild beasts”) – and thus Fauvism was born.

In March 1906, renowned art dealer Ambroise Vollard commissioned Derain to produce a series of 30 paintings of London. Derain’s bold, vivid and spontaneous portrayal of the city was different from anything seen ever before. His Neo-Impressionist painting Houses of Parliament (1906), depicting a panoramic view of the Thames River inspired famed art critic T.G. Rosenthal to coin the term “divisionism” regarding Derain’s oversized and exaggerated fragmented, pointillist technique. Derain’s London paintings are still among his most popular.

Derain experimented with many styles during his career, leading some historians to consider his role in Fauvism as derivative rather than contributory. However, his expressive use of vibrant color and simplified form remained constant throughout his career. His association with Picasso and Braque was integral to the development of early Cubism and the future of Modern Art movements.